In 2022, life expectancy at birth in Spain was 83.1 years (80.3 in men and 85.8 in women).

The Ministry of Health published this Monday the report on life expectancy in Spain in 2022, which reveals a recovery after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, although without reaching pre-pandemic levels.

In 2022, life expectancy at birth in Spain was 83.1 years, 80.3 in men and 85.8 in women. While this represents an increase from 2020, it still falls short of the 2019 figures, when life expectancy stood at 83.5 years.

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Life expectancy at birth is still not at pre-pandemic levels

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant decline of 1.5 years in life expectancy in 2020. A recovery was observed in 2021 and 2022, although life expectancy in 2022 was 0.8 years lower than in 2019. This impact is due to the high mortality during the health crisis, which particularly affected the elderly.

The report also shows the difference in life expectancy between men and women. In 2022, women still had a higher life expectancy at birth (85.8 years and men 80.3 years), a difference of 5.5 years. However, this gap has been narrowing since 2006, when the difference was 6.6 years.

As for life expectancy at age 65, the report indicates that in 2022 it was 21.2 years: 19.1 for men and 23.1 for women. As with life expectancy at birth, there has been a post-pandemic recovery, but not to 2019 levels. This means that, despite the recovery, people reaching the age of 65 have a lower life expectancy than before the pandemic.

Finally, the report analyses healthy life years at birth, which in 2022 were 79.3 (77.5 in men and 81.2 in women), representing 95.5% of life expectancy lived without limitations. This shows a slight decrease compared to 2021, indicating a possible increase in chronic diseases and disabilities that affect the quality of life of older people.