Life expectancy

1. Key messages

2. Life expectancy

The life expectancy at birth is 81.7 years in Belgium

In 2021, the life expectancy at birth (LE) was 81.7 years in Belgium. It was 4.8 years higher for women (84.0 years) than for men (79.2 years). The LE has increased more rapidly in men than in women. Between 2000 and 2021, the LE increased by 4.6 years in men and by 3.1 years in women, reducing the gender gap.

The LE has increased nonstop for decades, except in 2012 and in 2015 when a slight decrease was observed. In 2020, due to the excess mortality caused by COVID-19, life expectancy fell by 1 year to 80.8 years. The impact of COVID-19 on mortality in 2021 is lower than in 2020 but still exists with an estimated 4.9% extra deaths [1].

The decrease in life expectancy by 1 year between 2019 and 2020 is mainly due to the contribution of people with an age of 60 years and over. In men, the 60-79 age group contributed to the decrease by 0.55 years (or 55% of the 1-year decrease). In women, the 80+ age group contributed to the drop in LE by 0.59 years (or 66% of the 0.9-year decrease).

The life expectancy is the highest in the Flemish Region, followed by the Brussels Capital Region and the lowest in the Walloon Region

In 2021, the life expectancy at birth was the highest in the Flemish Region (82.7 years), intermediate in the Brussels Capital Region (81.3 years), and lowest in the Walloon Region  (79.9 years). The regional differences in LE at birth are larger in men than in women. In men, the LE in the Flemish Region was 3.2 years higher than in the Walloon Region and 1.8 years higher than in the Brussels Capital Region while in women, the LE in the Flemish Region was 2.4 years higher than in the Walloon Region and 1.2 years higher than in the Brussels Capital Region.

During the period 2000-2021, the gains in LE were larger in men compared to women in all 3 regions: men gained 5.1, 4.6, and 4.5 years in the Flemish Region, the Brussels Capital Region, and the Walloon Region respectively while women gained 3.6, 2.8, and 2.4 years.

In 2020, the LE decreased in all regions and for both sexes. The decrease was higher in the Brussels Capital Region (-2 years) and in the Walloon Region (-1.3 years) compared to the Flemish Region (-0.7 years). In 2021, the LE in the Flemish Region came back to the 2019 level (82.7 years), while in the Walloon Region and in the Brussels Capital Region the LE is still slightly lower than in 2019 (-0.4 years and -0.3 years).

The LE in the German-Speaking Community was 81.3 years in 2021, it was 5.4 years higher in women (84.1 years) than in men (78.7 years).

Life expectancy is the highest in Vlaams-Brabant and the lowest in Hainaut

Provincial differences in life expectancy are important. The differences between the province with the highest life expectancy, Vlaams-Brabant, and the province with the lowest life expectancy, Hainaut, are 4.9 years in men and 3.3 years in women.

Except for Brabant Wallon, the Flemish provinces scored better than the Walloon provinces.

There is an important gap in life expectancy between advantaged and disadvantaged socio-economic groups

In 2019, a gradient in life expectancy was observed between distinct socio-economic groups. The gaps between the most advantaged and most disadvantaged groups reached 8.9 years in men and 6.0 years in women. In 2020, life expectancy decreased in every group for both sexes, with a lower decrease in the most advantaged group, further increasing the socio-economic gaps to 9.3 years in men and 6.3 years in women. In both years, the undetermined group had the lowest LE, and in 2020, the LE fall was the highest in this group.

Belgium ranks bad for life expectancy among EU-14 countries in 2020

In 2019, the life expectancy at birth in Belgium was slightly lower than the EU-15 average, for both men and women.

In 2020, Belgium had a bigger decrease in LE than most EU-14 countries which led to a drop in the ranking. LE in Belgium ranks second to last for men and last for women among the EU-14 countries.

3. Read more

View the metadata for this indicator

SPMA: Standardized Procedures for Mortality Analysis in Belgium

Background

Life expectancy at a given age is the number of years a person of that age can expect to live, on average, based on current mortality conditions. Life expectancy at birth is the most common life expectancy indicator. It is a good indicator of the current level of health in a population across all generations.

However, in case of a temporary health crisis with an impact on mortality, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy has important limitations. Indeed, it is very likely that with the disappearance of the pandemic, mortality conditions will be very different in the near future from those observed during the crisis. Life expectancy in 2020 and 2021 must therefore be interpreted in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Life expectancy is presented in this report by sex, region, and by socio-economic level.

The life expectancy by socio-economic level presented here is the result of analyses done by the demographic institute of the UCLouvain [3]. The socio-economic groups are constructed based on a composite indicator that factors for each individual the educational level, the socio-professional category, the housing conditions, and the household income. Each individual gets a score and four quartiles are defined to create four socio-economic groups: disadvantaged, middle low, middle high, and advantaged. A fifth group, called the undetermined, is constituted of the individual for which the information was missing for at least two of the four dimensions. In practice, Brussels’ residents and population from African’s origin are overrepresented in this group.

Definitions

EU-14

The EU-14 corresponds to all countries that belonged to the European Union between 1995 and 2004: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. We compare the Belgian health status to that of the EU-14 because these countries have similar socioeconomic conditions. Note: The United Kingdom is not included since 2020.

Life expectancy at birth

Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn can expect to live, if death rates of the reference are considered and do not change in the coming years.

References

1. Sciensano. Analyse de la surmortalité en 2021. https://www.sciensano.be/fr/coin-presse/analyse-de-la-surmortalite-en-2021
2. Statbel, 2000-2021. https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/population/life-expectancy-and-life-tables
3. Bourguignon M, Damiens J, Doignon Y, Eggerickx T, Fontaine S, Lusyne P, et al. Variations spatiales et sociodémographiques de mortalité de 2020-2021 en Belgique. L’effet de la pandémie Covid-19, Document de travail 27. Louvain-la-Neuve: Centre de recherche en démographie; 2021.
4. OECD Health Data. https://stats.oecd.org/