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Life expectancy at birth was 79.5 years in Estonia in 2024, according to Statistics Estonia. Among European countries, Estonia has had the biggest increase in life expectancy in the last three decades. The number of healthy life years at birth is 58.7 in Estonia.
«In 1994, the life expectancy of Estonian residents was 66.5 years, whereas by 2024 it had increased by 13 years and reached 79.5 years. In both Latvia and Lithuania, life expectancy has increased by about nine years in the same 30-year period. Life expectancy is currently 77.6 years in Lithuania and 75.6 years in Latvia,» explained Eveli Voolens, the social statistics team lead at Statistics Estonia. She added that Latvia has one of the lowest life expectancies in Europe.
On the other hand, in Finland, life expectancy was already 76.7 years in 1994 and has now increased by 4.9 years to 81.6 years.
Life expectancy in Estonia is still below the European average, which was 81.4 years in 2023. Switzerland and Spain are the European countries with the highest life expectancy -- over 84 years.
«In the European context, Estonia and the other two Baltic countries are notable for the big difference in male and female life expectancies. In Estonia, life expectancy is 83.4 years for women and just 75.1 years for men. The difference is 8.3 years,» explained Voolens.
In 2023, the European Union average life expectancy was 84 years for women and 78.7 years for men, with a difference of 5.3 years.
Due to the difference in life expectancies, the share of women rises significantly in older age groups.
«The numbers of men and women are more or less equal within the working-age population, but the number of men then starts to fall rapidly as age increases. As a result, the share of women soars -- for example, women constitute 74 percent of the population aged 80 and over,» said Voolens.
2024 data show than Estonian residents have 58.7 healthy life years at birth.
«Compared with 2023, the number of healthy life years has increased by 0.7 years. Men live disability-free for 56.8 years and women for 60.6 years,» said Voolens.
From year to year, the data indicate that residents of urban areas live a few years more in good health than residents in rural areas -- in 2024, their healthy life years were 59.7 and 56.5 years, respectively. In 2024, the number of healthy life years was down by 0.4 years in rural areas and up by 1.3 years in urban areas.
Life expectancy is calculated on the basis of the mortality conditions in the reference year. In recent years, mortality indicators have been stable and, therefore, life expectancy has shown a steady uptrend. Longer life expectancy reflects socioeconomic development and also correlates with other factors, such as place of residence and level of education.
«Educational attainment influences the standard of living, which in turn has an impact on health and life expectancy. Thus, women with higher education have an average life expectancy of 86 years, while men with basic education can expect to live 68.4 years. The same applies to healthy life years. Based on 2024 data, the average number of healthy life years is 64.5 years for people with higher education and just 48.6 years for those with basic education. The data show that, in 2024, the number of healthy life years increased only for the population with higher education. The indicator remained the same or decreased for population groups with less than higher education,» said Voolens.
Estonians live disability-free for a little longer than non-Estonians -- their healthy life years are 59.1 and 57.7 years, respectively. The difference narrowed significantly last year, as the number of healthy life years was up by 1.4 years among non-Estonians and only by 0.2 years among Estonians. The data show that healthy life years are the same for non-Estonian and Estonian men, but there is a difference between non-Estonian and Estonian women.
Looking at counties, life expectancy is the highest in Tartu and Harju counties -- 80.6 years in both.
«Life expectancy is higher in urban areas, 80.6 years, and lower in rural areas, 77.9 years,» added Voolens. East-Viru county has the lowest life expectancy at 77 years. Data by sex show that life expectancy is the highest for women in Saare County, 85 years, and the lowest for men in East-Viru County, 71.4 years.