Maltese retain highest expectation of living healthy lives in old-age

Both men and women in Sweden and Malta could expect to live more than 70 years in good health, data for 2011 by the EU's statistical arm Eurostat finds.

Healthy life years measure the number of years that a person can expect to live in a healthy condition. A healthy condition is defined by the absence of limitations in functioning and disability: the indicator of healthy life years measures the number of years that a person of a specific age is expected to live without any severe or moderate health problems, which means that the respondent can maintain their usual activities.

At birth, both women and men in the EU27 could expect to live 62 years in a healthy condition in 2011. At the age of 50, they could expect another 18 years living in a healthy condition, while at the age of 65, they could expect to have an additional 9 healthy life years.

Among the Member States, the highest number of healthy life years at birth in 2011 was estimated for both women and men in Malta (71 years for women and 70 years for men), Sweden (70 and 71 years), Luxembourg, Greece and Ireland (all 67 and 66 years), and the lowest in Slovakia (52 years for both) and Slovenia (54 years for both). In the majority of Member States, there was very little difference in the number of years women and men can expect to live without health limitations. In 2011, the biggest differences were found in Lithuania (5 more healthy life years for women) and in the Netherlands (5 more healthy life years for men).

At the age of 50, both women and men were expected to have more than 20 additional healthy life years in Sweden (26 years for women and 25 for men), Malta (23 years for both), Denmark (22 years for both), Luxembourg, Ireland and the United Kingdom (all 22 and 21 years). The lowest additional healthy life years were estimated for women and men in Slovakia (10 years for both).

At the age of 65, healthy life years were highest in Sweden (15 additional years for women and 14 for men) and lowest in Slovakia (3 and 4 years).