Epirus records the highest life expectancy among the 13 regions of the country and one of the highest in Europe.

The European lead is held by the Spanish region Comunidad de Madrid with a life expectancy of 85.2 years.

The figures were announced on Thursday by Eurostat and refer to 2022, the year when the exit from the pandemic had begun.

In 2022, life expectancy in the EU was 80.6 years, up by 0.5 years from 2021, while in Greece it reached 80.8 years (from 80.2 years in 2021), according to Eurostat data.

In 2022, Epirus, with a life expectancy of 82.7 years, holds the first place in Greece.

They are followed by the North Aegean (82.3), Crete and the South Aegean (both 81.7), Western Macedonia (81.4) and Thessaly (81.1). Below 81 years are Attica (80.9 years), Central Greece (80.7), the Ionian Islands (80.5), Western Greece (80.3), Peloponnese and Central Macedonia (80 ,2).

Life expectancy in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace is just under 80 years (79.9 years).

At EU level, over two decades, since 2002, the highest value was recorded in 2019, when life expectancy reached 81.3 years, an increase of 3.7 years compared to 2002. However, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the comparable index decreased to 80.4 years in 2020 and 80.1 years in 2021. In 2022 it increased, but did not reach the 2019 value.

For women in the EU, life expectancy stood at 83.3 years in 2022 (up 0.4 years compared to 2021 but down -0.7 years compared to 2019) and for men at 77, 9 years (up 0.7 years compared to 2021 but down -0.6 years compared to 2019).

For women in Greece, life expectancy reached 83.4 years, while for men it was 78.3 years, a difference of 5.1 years.

In 2022, life expectancy for women in the EU was 5.4 years longer than for men, with variations between EU countries. In Latvia, women live 10 years longer than men, followed by women in Estonia and Lithuania (+8.7 years).

The smallest gender differences were recorded in the Netherlands (2.9 years), Ireland (3.3 years) and Sweden (3.4 years).