In 2024, life expectancy at birth in Europe was 79 years, compared with the low of 62.8 in 1950 and 1951. During this time period, life expectancy increased fastest between the 1950s and mid 1960s, with the rate of improvement slowing since then.

Global life expectancy at birth has risen significantly since the mid-1900s, from roughly 46 years in 1950 to 73.2 years in 2023. Post-COVID-19 projections There was a drop of 1.7 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, between 2019 and 2021, however, figures resumed upon their previous trajectory the following year due to the implementation of vaccination campaigns and the lower severity of later strains of the virus. By the end of the century it is believed that global life expectancy from birth will reach 82 years, although growth will slow in the coming decades as many of the more-populous Asian countries reach demographic maturity. However, there is still expected to be a wide gap between various regions at the end of the 2100s, with the Europe and North America expected to have life expectancies around 90 years, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to be in the low-70s. The Great Leap Forward While a decrease of one year during the COVID-19 pandemic may appear insignificant, this is the largest decline in life expectancy since the "Great Leap Forward" in China in 1958, which caused global life expectancy to fall by almost four years between by 1960. The "Great Leap Forward" was a series of modernizing reforms, which sought to rapidly transition China's agrarian economy into an industrial economy, but mismanagement led to tens of millions of deaths through famine and disease.

Spain life expectancy for 2025 is 84.25, a 0.15% increase from 2024.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Spain life expectancy for 2024 was <strong>84.12</strong>, a <strong>0.28% increase</strong> from 2023.</li>
<li>Spain life expectancy for 2023 was <strong>83.88</strong>, a <strong>0.9% increase</strong> from 2022.</li>
<li>Spain life expectancy for 2022 was <strong>83.13</strong>, a <strong>0.05% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
</ul>Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.

A global phenomenon, known as the demographic transition, has seen life expectancy from birth increase rapidly over the past two centuries. In pre-industrial societies, the average life expectancy was around 24 years, and it is believed that this was the case throughout most of history, and in all regions. The demographic transition then began in the industrial societies of Europe, North America, and the West Pacific around the turn of the 19th century, and life expectancy rose accordingly. Latin America was the next region to follow, before Africa and most Asian populations saw their life expectancy rise throughout the 20th century.

In 2021, life expectancy at birth in Europe was 77 years, compared with the high of 79.1 years in 2019, and the low of 62.8 in 1950 and 1951. During this time period, life expectancy increased fastest between the 1950s and mid 1960s, with the rate of improvement slowing since then.

Over the past 75 years, women have generally had a higher life expectancy than men by around 4-6 years. Reasons for this difference include higher susceptibility to childhood diseases among males; higher rates of accidental deaths, conflict-related deaths, and suicide among adult men; and higher prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle habits and chronic illnesses, as well as higher susceptibility to chronic diseases among men. Therefore, men not only have lower life expectancy than women overall, but also throughout each stage of life. Throughout the given period, there were notable dips in life expectancy for both sexes, including a roughly four year drop in 1960 due to China's so-called Great Leap Forward, and a 1.8 year drop due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. Across the world, differences in life expectancy can vary between the sexes by large margins. In countries such as the Nordics, for example, the difference is low due to high-quality healthcare systems and access, as well as high quality diets and lifestyles. In Eastern Europe, however, the difference is over 10 years in Russia and Ukraine due to the war, although the differences were already very pronounced in this region before 2022, in large part driven by unhealthier lifestyles among men.

Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Developing Countries in Europe and Central Asia was 74.79987 Number of Years in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Developing Countries in Europe and Central Asia reached a record high of 74.79987 in January of 2023 and a record low of 54.67285 in January of 1950. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Developing Countries in Europe and Central Asia - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

Life expectancy in Germany was below 39 in the year 1875, and over the course of the next 145 years, it is expected to have increased to above 81 years in the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Germany's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. The most notable changes were because of the First and Second World Wars, in the first half of the twentieth century.

This table contains the period survival tables (per period of 1 year and 5 years) by sex and age for the population of the Netherlands. The table shows how many boys or girls from a group of 100,000 newborns will reach the age of 0, 1, 2, etc. on December 31 of the year of observation. It is also possible to see how old these children will be on average. The following breakdowns are possible: - Mortality probability by sex and age; - Living (table population) by sex and age; - Deaths (table population) by sex and age; - Life expectancy by sex and age. Data available from: - one-year periods: from 1950 - five-year periods: from 1861 to 1866. Status of the figures: All figures included in the table are final. Changes as of June 16, 2023: Final figures for 2022 have been added. When will new numbers come out? The figures for 2023 will be published in the second quarter of 2024.

In 2024, the average life expectancy in the world was 71 years for men and 76 years for women. The lowest life expectancies were found in Africa, while Oceania and Europe had the highest. What is life expectancy?Life expectancy is defined as a statistical measure of how long a person may live, based on demographic factors such as gender, current age, and most importantly the year of their birth. The most commonly used measure of life expectancy is life expectancy at birth or at age zero. The calculation is based on the assumption that mortality rates at each age were to remain constant in the future. Life expectancy has changed drastically over time, especially during the past 200 years. In the early 20th century, the average life expectancy at birth in the developed world stood at 31 years. It has grown to an average of 70 and 75 years for males and females respectively, and is expected to keep on growing with advances in medical treatment and living standards continuing. Highest and lowest life expectancy worldwide Life expectancy still varies greatly between different regions and countries of the world. The biggest impact on life expectancy is the quality of public health, medical care, and diet. As of 2022, the countries with the highest life expectancy were Japan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Australia, all at 84–83 years. Most of the countries with the lowest life expectancy are mostly African countries. The ranking was led by the Chad, Nigeria, and Lesotho with 53–54 years.

Life expectancy in France was below thirty in the late 1700s, but over the course of the next two and a half centuries it is expected to reach 82.5 by the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout France's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. The most noticeable changes were because of smallpox and influenza epidemics in the 1700s, medical advancements (such as vaccination and pasteurization) saw life expectancy increase in the 1800s, and then both World Wars and the epidemics that followed caused brief drops in the first half of the twentieth century.

The most important key figures about population, households, birth, mortality, changes of residence, marriages, marriage dissolutions and change of nationality of the Dutch population. Data available from: 1899 Status of the figures: All data in this publication are final data. Changes as of 9 april 2021: The figures for the period 1987 to 1994 with regard to 'Emigration including the balance of the administrative corrections' have been corrected. The correction is due to duplications present in some of our source files. The differences are minimal. The figures for 1997 with regard to Emigration, including the balance of the administrative corrections for persons with nationality 'European Union (excluding the Netherlands)', and persons with country of birth 'European Union (excluding the Netherlands)' have been corrected. The correction is due to a calculation error. The topics 'Live born children, relative' and 'Sex ratio' have switched places. Changes as of 24 March 2020: The table has been revised. The following changes have been made: Population on January 1: - The number of 'Women' in 2012 has been corrected. - The figures for 'Migration background Suriname' and 'Migration background (former) Netherlands Antilles' have been changed for 1971 up to and including 1994. The changes are the result of a method change in the past, which was not reflected in the table at the time. The figures now match all other sections of StatLine. Population development: 'Emigration' has been changed to 'Emigration including administrative corrections', 'Migration balance' has been changed to 'Migration balance including administrative corrections'. Figures on emigration, including the balance of administrative corrections, provide a better picture of actual emigration than figures on emigration excluding these corrections. Due to the change, the figures for 1977 up to and including 2016 have changed. Live born children: The 2015 figures for 'Live born children from mothers aged 25 to 29, relative' and 'Live born children from mothers aged 30 or older, relative' have been adjusted. Mortality: - The figures for 'Life expectancy at birth: men' and 'Life expectancy at birth: women' for 1950 up to and including 1962, 1972, 1982, 1991, 1999, 2009 and 2011 have been corrected. - The figures for 'Mortality <1 year after birth, relative' for 1994 and 2011 have been corrected. - The figure for 'Mortality <1 year after birth, relative' for 2011 has been corrected. - The figures for 'Deceased by cause of death' have been removed from the table. (For more information: 3. LINKS TO RELEVANT TABLES AND ARTICLES). Foreign migration by nationality: - Various topics related to 'Emigration including administrative corrections' have been added. - 'Total immigration' has been corrected for 1993 and 1996. - 'Immigration, European Union (excluding the Netherlands)' has been adjusted for 2004 and 2013. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Dutch' has been corrected for 1995 and 2012. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Total non-Dutch' has been corrected for 1995 and 2012. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, European Union' has been adjusted for 2004, 2005 and 2013. Foreign migration by country of birth: - Various topics related to 'Emigration including administrative corrections' have been added. - 'Total immigration' has been corrected for 1993 and 1996. - 'Immigration, European Union (excluding the Netherlands)' has been adjusted for 1987 up to and including 1990 and for 2004. - 'Immigration, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 2012. - 'Immigration, Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 2012. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, European Union (excluding the Netherlands)' has been adjusted for 1989, 1999 and 2004. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Indonesia' has been corrected for 1994. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 1997. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 1997. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Specific emigration areas' has been corrected for 1995. Foreign migration by country of origin / destination: - 'Total immigration' has been corrected for 1996. - 'Immigration, European Union (excluding the Netherlands)' has been adjusted for 2004. - 'Immigration, Indonesia, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 2007 and 2010 up to and including 2016. - 'Immigration, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 2010 up to and including 2016. - 'Immigration, Indonesia' has been corrected for 2013. - 'Immigration, Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 2010 up to and including 2016. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, European Union (excluding the Netherlands)' has been adjusted for 1998 and 2004. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Indonesia, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 2010 up to and including 2016. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Suriname and Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 2010 up to and including 2016. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Netherlands Antilles' has been corrected for 2010 up to and including 2016. - 'Emigration excluding administrative corrections, Turkey' has been corrected for 2012. The corrections are the result of manual actions. The differences concern rounding differences and are minimal. The adjustments with regard to the European Union are generally the result of a changed calculation method. When will the new figures be published? The figures for the population development in 2019 and the population on 1 January 2020 will be published in the first quarter of 2021.

In the century between 1920 and 2020, life expectancy more than doubled in Albania, increasing from approximately 32 years in 1920, to 78 years in 2020. Between 1925 and 1930, life expectancy stagnated, due to political instability and poor economic opportunities, although it then increased well into the late 1930s. It was during the Second World War when life expectancy decreased, as Albania was annexed first by Italy, and later by Germany. An estimated 30,000 Albanians perished as a direct result of the war, and life expectancy fell by almost three years in this five year period. In the 1950s, Albania's pre-war trajectory continued, and life expectancy rose to above 50 years in 1950, and has gradually increased to over 78 years today. There was a slight decrease in life expectancy in the early 1990s, as the communist system in Eastern Europe collapsed, however Albania's life expectancy has since increased well above the global average.

At the beginning of the 1840s, life expectancy from birth in Ireland was just over 38 years. However, this figure would see a dramatic decline with the beginning of the Great Famine in 1845, and dropped below 21 years in the second half of the decade (in 1849 alone, life expectancy fell to just 14 years). The famine came as a result of a Europe-wide potato blight, which had a disproportionally devastating impact on the Irish population due to the dependency on potatoes (particularly in the south and east), and the prevalence of a single variety of potato on the island that allowed the blight to spread faster than in other areas of Europe. Additionally, authorities forcefully redirected much of the country's surplus grain to the British mainland, which exacerbated the situation. Within five years, mass starvation would contribute to the deaths of over one million people on the island, while a further one million would emigrate; this also created a legacy of emigration from Ireland, which saw the population continue to fall until the mid-1900s, and the total population of the island is still well below its pre-famine level of 8.5 million people.

Following the end of the Great Famine, life expectancy would begin to gradually increase in Ireland, as post-famine reforms would see improvements in the living standards of the country’s peasantry, most notably the Land Wars, a largely successful series of strikes, boycotts and protests aimed at reform of the country's agricultural land distribution, which began in the 1870s and lasted into the 20th century. As these reforms were implemented, life expectancy in Ireland would rise to more than fifty years by the turn of the century. While this rise would slow somewhat in the 1910s, due to the large number of Irish soldiers who fought in the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic, as well as the period of civil unrest leading up to the island's partition in 1921, life expectancy in Ireland would rise greatly in the 20th century. In the second half of the 20th century, Ireland's healthcare system and living standards developed similarly to the rest of Western Europe, and today, it is often ranks among the top countries globally in terms of human development, GDP and quality of healthcare. With these developments, the increase in life expectancy from birth in Ireland was relatively constant in the first century of independence, and in 2020 is estimated to be 82 years.

Life expectancy in the United Kingdom was below 39 years in the year 1765, and over the course of the next two and a half centuries, it is expected to have increased by more than double, to 81.1 by the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout the UK's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. These changes were the result of smallpox epidemics in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, new sanitary and medical advancements throughout time (such as compulsory vaccination), and the First world War and Spanish Flu epidemic in the 1910s.

The median age of Germans in 2025 was 45.5 years, meaning that half the German population was younger, half older. Following some fluctuation during the post-WWII baby boom waves, Germany's average age has been on an upwards trajectory since the 1970s, with a sharp rise in the 1990s and 2000s, although it has slowed in recent years. It is projected to peak at over 48 years in the 2040s, before plateauing around the 47 year mark for the remainder of the century. Aging in Germany This shift in the age makeup of Germany is driven by having fewer young people and more old people. While it has increased slightly in the last decade, the German fertility rate remains low. Fewer young people lead to a higher median age, as does rising life expectancy. These trends have significant economic and societal impacts, where workforces shrink and the elderly population places greater demand on healthcare systems and public finances, while families must increasingly care for elderly relatives. Regional and global trends The entire European Union, due to higher levels of development, shows an upward shift in its age distribution. While this shift is occurring globally, the level of Germany’s median age is particularly high. In many other parts of the world, particularly Subsaharan Africa, the proportion of young and old inhabitants is skewed sharply toward the young, pulling the median age lower.

Life expectancy in Norway was 35 years in 1765, and over the course of the next 255 years, it is expected to have increased to 82.2 years by 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. These changes were a result of famine and influenza epidemics between 1765 and 1865, and again in the 1910s because of the Spanish Flu epidemic that spread across Europe.

The world's population first reached one billion people in 1803, and reach eight billion in 2023, and will peak at almost 11 billion by the end of the century. Although it took thousands of years to reach one billion people, it did so at the beginning of a phenomenon known as the demographic transition; from this point onwards, population growth has skyrocketed, and since the 1960s the population has increased by one billion people every 12 to 15 years. The demographic transition sees a sharp drop in mortality due to factors such as vaccination, sanitation, and improved food supply; the population boom that follows is due to increased survival rates among children and higher life expectancy among the general population; and fertility then drops in response to this population growth. Regional differences The demographic transition is a global phenomenon, but it has taken place at different times across the world. The industrialized countries of Europe and North America were the first to go through this process, followed by some states in the Western Pacific. Latin America's population then began growing at the turn of the 20th century, but the most significant period of global population growth occurred as Asia progressed in the late-1900s. As of the early 21st century, almost two thirds of the world's population live in Asia, although this is set to change significantly in the coming decades. Future growth The growth of Africa's population, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, will have the largest impact on global demographics in this century. From 2000 to 2100, it is expected that Africa's population will have increased by a factor of almost five. It overtook Europe in size in the late 1990s, and overtook the Americas a decade later. In contrast to Africa, Europe's population is now in decline, as birth rates are consistently below death rates in many countries, especially in the south and east, resulting in natural population decline. Similarly, the population of the Americas and Asia are expected to go into decline in the second half of this century, and only Oceania's population will still be growing alongside Africa. By 2100, the world's population will have over three billion more than today, with the vast majority of this concentrated in Africa. Demographers predict that climate change is exacerbating many of the challenges that currently hinder progress in Africa, such as political and food instability; if Africa's transition is prolonged, then it may result in further population growth that would place a strain on the region's resources, however, curbing this growth earlier would alleviate some of the pressure created by climate change.

In 1800, the population of Spain was approximately 14.7 million. This figure would rise consistently throughout the 19th century, and early 20th century. The population growth rate was set to increase in the mid-1900s, but this was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, which would claim around half a million lives between 1936 and 1939. In spite of the war, the Spanish population continued to grow throughout these years, and reached 28 million by the middle of the century. Between the 1950s and 1970s, Spain observed a significant increase in its population growth, facilitated by the baby boom that followed the Second World War (as in most of Western Europe) as well as general medical improvements and increased life expectancy.

Beginning in the 1980s, Spain would begin a demographic transition marked by a dramatic drop in the fertility rate of the country, resulting in the population only growing by two million between the mid-1980s and 2000 (compared to an increase of two million every five or six years beforehand). There was a sharp rise in Spain’s population from 2000 to 2008, as strong economic growth would be accompanied by a dramatic surge in immigration to the country. This would plateau at just over 46 million in 2008 however, as the Great Recession took its toll on the country’s economy, and in 2020, Spain is estimated to have a population of approximately 46.8 million, which is the sixth-largest in Europe.

In 1800, the region of present-day Turkey had a population of approximately 9.8 million. Turkey’s population would grow steadily throughout the 1800s, growing to 14 million by the turn of the century. During this time, Turkey was the center of the Ottoman Empire, which also covered much of the Balkans, Arabia, and the African coast from Libya to Somalia. In the early 20th century, the Ottoman Empire's dissolution period began, characterized by political instability and a series of military defeats and coups. The empire was one of the defeated Central Powers of the First World War, in which it suffered approximately three million total fatalities. It is estimated that the majority of these deaths did not come directly from the war, but as a result of the government-orchestrated mass expulsion and genocide of non-Turks from within the Turkish borders, specifically Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and Kurds; many ethnic Turks were simultaneously expelled from neighboring countries, namely Greece, which makes these events less-visible when examining annual data, although Turkey's total population did drop by one million between 1914 and 1924.

The Republic of Turkey Following the end of the Turkish War of Independence in 1923, and the establishment of the republic of Turkey, the population would begin to recover, tripling from just around 21 million in 1950 to over 63 million by the turn of the century. The new republic, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, introduced sweeping, progressive reforms that modernized the country, particularly its healthcare and education systems. Turkey remained neutral throughout the Second World War, and became a member of NATO during the Cold War. The second half of the 1900s was marked with intermittent periods of political instability, and a number of military conflicts (namely, in Cyprus and Kurdistan). In spite of this, Turkey has generally been considered a developed country for most of this time, although its life expectancy and infant mortality rates have often been more in line with developing nations.

Modern Turkey In the past decade, Turkey's population growth has continued its rapid growth; while birth rates have declined, the mass migration of refugees to the country fleeing the Syrian Civil War has seen the population growth ramain high. This influx of refugees was seen as a stepping stone in Turkey's accession to the European Union, with whom it has been negotiating a potential membership since 2005. Accession to the EU would provide huge economic benefits to Turkey, however, political developments in recent years (particularly the 2016 coup) have seen these negotiations stall, as the EU has accused the Turkish government of committing widespread human rights violations, such as torture, political imprisonment and censorship of free speech. In 2020, Turkey's population is estimated to be over 84 million people, and is expected to exceed 100 million in the next two decades.