Life expectancy in Spain highest in European Union and third highest in world

LIFE expectancy in Spain is the highest of any European Union member-state and the third highest in the world, beaten only by Japan and Switzerland.

The Health, Consumer and Social Well-being Ministry report Life Expectancy in Spain 2017 reveals the Spanish live to an average age of 83.3 years old.

Women can expect to live even longer, until 86. Average life expectancy for Spanish men is 80.4.

A comparison with 2016’s figures shows the number of years men in Spain generally live remained unchanged, although for the population overall there was a 0.1 year decrease and a decline of 0.2 years for women.

The report designed to show the population lifespan based on gender, age and region has been compiled annually since 2002.

Life expectancy in Spain has increased by 3.5 years since then: 4.2 years for men and 2.8 for women.

The explanation for why Spanish men historically do not live as long as women is explained by males being at greater risk of heart conditions and having higher incidents of risk factors related to diet and smoking, according to the Health Ministry.

Nevertheless, the gender life expectancy gap in this country has narrowed by 5.6 years since 1992.

By region, Madrid has the highest life expectancy ((85.08), followed by Castilla y León (84.2), Navarra (84.13), La Rioja (84.01), the Basque Country (84), Cataluña (83.64), Cantabria (83.63), Aragon (83.52), Galicia (83.40), Castilla-La Mancha (83.20), the Balearic Islands (83.11) and the Canary Islands (83.04).

At the other end of the scale, the autonomous community registering the lowest life expectancy in 2017 was Ceuta y Melilla (80.65), the second lowest Andalucia (82.08), followed by Extremadura (82.42), Murcia (82.61), the Valencian Community (82.81) and Asturias (82.84).

In terms of the number of years Spaniards can expect with quality of life, in 2017 the average