Life expectancy growth stalls in Greece « Euro Weekly News

The growth of life expectancy in Greece has stalled, reflecting a trend seen across almost all of Europe.

This results from obesity rates increasing dramatically due to poor diet and physical inactivity, according to a new study. The research was led by the University of East Anglia and published in public health journal The Lancet this week.

Greek life expectancy annual growth saw an average increase of 0.16 years from 1990 to 2011, dropping to 0.10 years from 2011 to 2019, and fell steeply to -0.61 between 2019 to 2021.

These results were worse than the continental average. Across all 20 countries included in the study, life expectancy between 1990 and 2011 grew on average by 0.23 years annually, falling to 0.15 years between 2011 and 2019, before dropping more dramatically to -0.18 between 2019 and 2021.

Professor Nicholas Steel, the project’s lead researcher, told The Guardian: “We found that deaths from cardiovascular diseases were the primary driver of the reduction in life expectancy improvements between 2011-19. Unsurprisingly, the Covid pandemic was responsible for decreases in life expectancy seen between 2019-21.”

Only Norway enjoys growing life expectancy within Europe, whilst England’s worsens the most

Norway was the sole country which saw lifespans continue to increase, whilst results from other Scandinavian nations also held up well. Prof Steel said: “Countries like Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, and Belgium held on to better life expectancy after 2011, and saw reduced harms from major risks for heart disease, helped by government policies.”

The British Isles saw the biggest declines to life expectancy growth rates overall. The worst were in England where average annual improvement fell from 0.25 years between 1990 and 2011 to 0.07 years from 2011 to 2019 and -0.60 from 2019 to 2021.

Discussing solutions to declining growth rates, Prof Steel argued that improving diets and encouraging active lifestyles should be issues of national concern. However, he added: “Life expectancy for older people in many countries is still improving, showing that we have not yet reached a natural longevity ceiling. Life expectancy mainly reflects mortality at younger ages, where we have lots of scope for reducing harmful risks and preventing early deaths.”

Life expectancy growth rates are dropping internationally

These results are reflected internationally. Another study published last year by the medical journal Nature Ageing found average lifespans were also stalling in 10 wealthy countries across the globe.

Their analysis suggested that the rising human life expectancy rates seen over the last century are unlikely to continue into the twenty-first century.