Life expectancy
Life expectancy at birth is 82.6 years
at birth in the Flemish Region for the entire stood at 82.6 years in 2022. Life expectancy at birth was 80.7 years for men and 84.6 years for women. For men, it is slightly higher than in 2021, for women slightly lower. This gives an extra life expectancy at birth for women of 3.9 years compared to men.
Between 2000 and 2019, life expectancy at birth has increased gradually: from 78.5 years in 2000 to 82.7 years in 2019 (+4.2 years) for the total population. This increase is higher for men (+5.1 years) than for women (+3.3 years).
In 2020, for the first time in 20 years, a clear decline in life expectancy was observed. This was a result of the high number of deaths in that year due to the corona pandemic. By 2021, life expectancy has recovered to about 2019 levels.
Higher life expectancy for women, also at older ages
Even at older ages, women maintain a higher life expectancy than men: at the age of 65, women have a surplus of +2.9 years; at the age of 85, the surplus equals +1.1 years.
Highest life expectancy for men in the districts of Maaseik and Leuven
Life expectancy at birth varied between 79 and 81.1 years for men in the 22 Flemish districts in the 2020-2022 period. This is a difference of 2.1 years.
Life expectancy at birth for men is highest in the districts of Maaseik and Leuven, and lowest in the districts of Ostend and Aalst.
Highest life expectancy for women in the districts of Tielt, Leuven and Bruges
Life expectancy at birth varied between 83.7 and 85.3 years for women in the 22 Flemish districts in the 2020-2022 period. This corresponds to a 1.6-year difference between the districts.
Life expectancy at birth for women is highest in the districts of Tielt, Leuven and Bruges, and lowest in the districts of Ieper and Oudenaarde.
Flemish Region in European sub-top for life expectancy
In 2021, within Belgium, life expectancy at birth for the was highest in the Flemish Region (80.4 years for men, 84.9 years for women). Life expectancy for Flemish men was 3.2 years higher than for men from the Walloon Region and 1.8 years higher than for men from the Brussels-Capital Region. Women have an extra life expectancy of 2.4 years and 1.2 years respectively.
Within the European Union (EU27), Belgium ranks 8th in terms of life expectancy at birth. Life expectancy varies widely between EU member states: among men, there is a 13.3-year difference in life expectancy between Sweden (81.3 years) and Bulgaria (68 years); among women, it is almost 11.1 years between Spain (86.2 years) and Bulgaria (75.1 years). Overall, Spain, Sweden, Luxembourg and Italy top the rankings and the eastern EU countries (Bulgaria, Romania and Latvia) are at the bottom.