In 2023, life expectancy for a 65-year-old man in Luxembourg was 19.9 years, the highest in the EU (though on a par with France). Conversely, Latvia recorded the lowest value, at 14.4 years. These are the findings of the latest data on life expectancy published on 14 March 2025 by Eurostat.

Life expectancy for the 65+ crowd increased last year in all EU countries, for both men and women, according to the statistics office. Luxembourg, along with the Netherlands and Sweden, had the lowest increase in the EU in relation to 2022 (+0.2 years for women and +0.3 years for men). Conversely, the biggest increase between 2022 and 2023 was recorded in Bulgaria (+1.5 years for women and +1.4 years for men).

In 2023, as in previous years, women had a higher life expectancy than men: the gap between the sexes was 5.3 years across the EU. Luxembourg's gap, 3.3 years, is one of the lowest in the EU along with those of the Netherlands and Sweden.

Life expectancy of 81.4 years

Life expectancy at birth in the EU stood at 81.4 years in 2023 (Luxembourg: 83.4 years), marking an increase of 0.8 years compared to 2022. Eurostat reported that, after life expectancy declined in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2023 it hit higher numbers than in 2019.

The EU region with the highest life expectancy at birth was the Spanish region of Comunidad de Madrid (86.1 years). Conversely, of the five EU regions with the lowest life expectancy at birth, three were in Bulgaria.

This article in French.