Bulgaria’s life expectancy at birth lowest in EU, but has risen
Life expectancy at birth in Bulgaria is the lowest in the European Union, but is among those in the EU that have risen in recent years, according to figures released by the bloc’s statistics agency Eurostat on September 11.
In 2024, life expectancy at birth in Bulgaria was 75.9 years, compared with the EU average of 81.7 years, Eurostat said.
In Bulgaria, life expectancy at birth in 2019 was 75.1 years, dropping to 73.3 years in 2020 and dropping again in 2021 to 71.2 years – those being the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, before rising again, to 74.2 years in 2022 and 75.8 years in 2023.
Eurostat said that the figure for life expectacny across the EU in 2024 was 0.3 years higher than in 2023.
In 15 countries, life expectancy in 2024 exceeded the EU average, with the highest life expectancy recorded in Italy and Sweden (both 84.1 years) and Spain (84.0 years).
By contrast, the lowest life expectancy was recorded in Bulgaria (75.9 years), Romania (76.6 years) and Latvia (76.7 years).
When compared with the pre-pandemic level in 2019, out of the 26 EU countries for which preliminary data are available, 24 countries experienced an increase in life expectancy in 2024.
The largest increases have been observed in Lithuania (+1.1 year), Czechia, Latvia and Romania (+1.0 years each).
The Netherlands was the only country that recorded a decline (-0.2 years), life expectancy remained stable in Spain, while France had a slight increase of 0.1 years.
(Photo: Niels Timmer/ freeimages.com)
