BRUSSELS (AP) – Life expectancy in much of the European Union fell last year as the 27-country bloc struggled with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The EU statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday that “after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, life expectancy at birth has fallen in the vast majority of EU member states.” It said the biggest drop was in Spain, with a loss of 1.6 years compared to 2019.
Bulgaria followed with a loss of 1.5 years, followed by Lithuania, Poland and Romania, all declining -1.4 years. Denmark and Finland were the only countries to see an increase in life expectancy of 0.1 years.
General EU statistics were not available because Ireland had not reported any data.
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