Areas where Greeks live longer

An increase of half a year Average life expectancy recorded in the European Union according to data published by Eurostat. In particular 2022 The average life expectancy of Europeans has increased to 80.6 years from 80,1 the 2021.

The highest value in nearly two decades – since 2002 to be precise – was recorded in 2019 when the index reached 81.3 years. However, the outbreak of the pandemic caused life expectancy to fall to 80.4 years in 2020 and to 80.1 years in 2021.

As for the “best performing” regions, their region comes in first place Madrid in Spain (85.2 years), followed by his region Trento in Italy (84.4 years) and the area Ile-de-France in France (84.1 years). near Stockholm in Sweden (84 years old) and its independent community Navarra in Spain (83.9 years old).

In our country, the highest life expectancy has been recorded Continentin North Aegean Islands And for Crete. In these regions, the average life expectancy for children born in 2022 is 82,7 years, the 82,3 years and 81,7 respectively.

Regarding the negative numbers, among the five regions of the European Union. With the lowest life expectancy, the four regions fall Bulgaria While the fifth is in Hungary.

Beforerest timeevery one of them men and womenics

According to new data, boys born on European soil in 2022 are expected to live 77.9 years, while girls are expected to live 83.3 years. Almost 5 years longer.

Of course, the index shows differences between EU countries. In Latvia, women are expected to live 10.1 years longer than men, while in Estonia and Lithuania women are expected to live 8.7 years longer than men. The smallest differences are recorded between the sexes Holland (2.9 years), Ireland (3.3 years) and Sweden (3.4 years).

“Undoubtedly a positive element for recovery.”

Eurostat data analysis Alexandra TrajakiThe professor of economic demography at Harokopion University speaks of “an undoubtedly optimistic and positive element to the recovery, which indicates that we have moved away from the impact of deaths caused by the Corona virus.”

“We may be at a lower level than the average life expectancy in 2019, which was 81.7 years, but for the first time since the pandemic, we have a good indication that we are recovering and starting to move forward again,” he points out. ».

2020 and 2021 were two years that, according to Ms. Tragaki, traveled a steady path for decades, sometimes shorter and sometimes longer, and were marked by an increase in life expectancy in the Giria of Epirus. “Some countries have already managed to achieve a slight increase from 2021, but this time we are dealing with an overall increase across Europe and of course in Greece as well.”

A different philosophy of life, marrying the best social life with the best and healthiest diet and the best climate, is what makes Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece rank high in life expectancy in 2022.

Commenting on our country's good performance in the Northern Aegean, Crete and Epirus, Ms. Tragaki says that this is linked to “the different lifestyle that the people of these regions follow, not only in terms of nutrition but as a general mentality, an alternative attitude to life. It is not necessarily about better infrastructure or Better services for citizens. Ikaria has proven this to us a lot for many years. So the entire North Aegean is a bit of a “blue zone”, which is very interesting. This different philosophy of life, which combines the best social life with the best healthy diet and the best Climate is what makes Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece rank high in life expectancy in 2022.

At this point, Ms. Tragaki points out that the next announcement from Eurostat, which demographers are eagerly awaiting, concerns the index that combines life expectancy with the extension of years of “good health.” “In simpler terms, it is not only about increasing life expectancy, we are also interested in the number of years we live without health problems. In 2021, this European indicator reached 64.2 years for women and 63.1 years for men. In fact, in The year was 66.6 years for Greek women and 64.7 years for men.”

Hormones, menstruation and pregnancy are “protective cloaks” for women.

Commenting on the differences between women and men and the advantage enjoyed by the former, Ms. Tragaki says the following: “Over the past centuries, demographers have long been preoccupied with explaining this issue, and the answer is given at the end of this article. The 1980s. Until then, scientists believed That the life expectancy of women is longer because they do not smoke or because they smoke less, because they do not perform work that is dangerous to the body, because they did not drive cars, did not work, etc. The mass conquest of all of the above by women refuted these theories. The substance is purely biological and innate and has been around since the beginning of human history.Hormones, menstruation and pregnancy are “protective cloaks” for women.

Finally, with regard to the negative performance of Bulgaria and Hungary, Ms. Tragaki says that the reasons for these bad indicators are due to the collapse of the former Eastern Bloc. “It is characteristic that in the 1990s the life expectancy of men in the countries of the former Soviet Union decreased by almost two full years, something that happened for the first time in Europe in peacetime. Living conditions and health services are the main factors that make life expectancy in These countries show a significant difference compared to the rest of European countries.