Changing life expectancy in Europe 1990–2021: how is UK doing?

Not great. But we are in a group of countries where the rise in life expectancy was slowing down pre COVID-19, and is now decreasing. This is a major concern.

In a recent study in the Lancet (Steel, 2025), researchers compared changes in life expectancy in 16 European Economic Area countries for three time periods: 1990–2011, 2011–19, and 2019–21.

What the study showed

• All countries showed mean annual improvements in life expectancy in both 1990–2011 (mean 0·23 years) and 2011–19 (0·15 years)
• But the rate of improvement in life expectancy was lower in 2011–19 than in 1990–2011 in all countries except for Norway
• I.e the improvement in life expectancy was slowing down pre COVID-19 in most countries
• This was followed, in 2019–21, by an overall decrease in mean annual life expectancy across Europe (mean 0·18 years)
• However, interestingly, as shown in the graphs below, 5 countries (Ireland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark), showed a marginal improvement in life expectancy; and Belgium showed no change in life expectancy.

The following table summarises the changes in life expectancy (and the contribution of various types of diseases) across Europe, comparing 1990 and 2011.

What does this all mean? (Interpretation)

The authors concluded that the countries which best maintained improvements in life expectancy after 2011 (above), did so through reductions in mortality from cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms – underpinned by decreased exposures to major risks, possibly mitigated by government policies.

The continued improvements in life expectancy in five countries during 2019–21 indicate that these countries were better prepared to withstand the COVID-19 pandemic.

By contrast, countries with the greatest slowdown in life expectancy improvements after 2011, went on to have some of the largest decreases in life expectancy in 2019–21. These findings suggest that government policies that improve population health also build resilience to future shocks.

How does this study affect you?

Assuming you cannot easily move to a healthier country, it does not .. today. But it makes us all aware of what is happening to our country’s overall health. We can then strive to invest more time and money into public health (for prevention). And we all need to make our healthcare (NHS) work more effectively.