Rank	Region Name	Life Expectancy
1	Switzerland	84
2	Italy	84
3	Spain	84
4	France	83
5	Norway	83
6	Sweden	83
7	Iceland	83
8	Ireland	82
9	Portugal	82
10	Luxembourg	82
11	Netherlands	82
12	Belgium	82
13	Austria	82
14	Denmark	82
15	Finland	82
16	Greece	82
17	Slovenia	82
18	Germany	81
19	United Kingdom	81
20	Czech Republic	80
21	Albania	80
22	Estonia	79
23	Poland	79
24	Croatia	79
25	Slovakia	78
26	Kosovo	78
27	Bosnia and Herzegovina	78
28	North Macedonia	77
29	Montenegro	77
30	Hungary	77
31	Serbia	77
32	Latvia	76
33	Lithuania	76
34	Romania	76
35	Bulgaria	76
36	Belarus	74
37	Ukraine	73
38	Russia	73
39	Moldova	71

Europe’s 2026 longevity map reveals that the countries with the highest life expectancy are not always the richest. Instead, these countries have steady policies, invest in healthcare, and enjoy stable societies.

Those with life expectancies of 83 to 84 years reach these numbers by making healthcare available to everyone, focusing on prevention, and keeping up healthy cultural habits.

Switzerland, Italy, and Spain all have life expectancies of 84 years, but they achieve this in different ways. Switzerland spends more per person on healthcare and has an efficient, decentralized system.

Italy and Spain benefit from Mediterranean diets and strong primary care, which help keep heart disease rates low.

This suggests that healthy habits and good primary care can matter as much as high spending. Nordic countries, with life expectancies around 83 years, stand out in reducing inequality.

They offer universal services and generous parental leave, which help protect mothers’ and children’s health from the beginning.

It is surprising that Albania’s life expectancy is 80 years, higher than Poland’s 79 years. Many people in Albania live in rural areas, stay active, and eat less processed food, which helps offset the country’s lower income.

In contrast, Poland has seen a rise in lifestyle diseases since the 1990s, partly due to rapid urban growth and uneven healthcare. This shows that behavior and environment can sometimes influence life expectancy more than economic growth.

Western European countries consistently have life expectancies that are 2 to 4 years higher than those in Central Europe.

France, Belgium, and the Netherlands reach 82 to 83 years by working together on health policies and running strong public health campaigns.

Germany and Austria fall a bit behind because they rely more on specialists and less on prevention.

In the Balkans, where life expectancy is between 77 and 79 years, ongoing underfunding and the loss of medical professionals to other countries keep these nations from catching up, even as some make progress toward joining the EU.

Eastern European and post-Soviet countries have the lowest life expectancies, ranging from 36 to 39 years, with life spans of 71 to 74 years.

These countries face problems like ongoing conflicts, outdated infrastructure, and high rates of alcohol-related deaths.

Ukraine and Russia are affected the most, as instability disrupts regular healthcare even more than economic sanctions.

Countries with the highest life expectancies face a trade-off. Keeping life expectancy at 83 to 84 years means spending more on care for older people, leaving less money for younger generations.

Switzerland and the Nordic countries invest heavily in services for the elderly, but this strains their budgets and could cause workforce shortages in the future if birth rates remain low.

Countries with lower life expectancies have another challenge: many doctors and nurses leave for better jobs in other countries. This makes it even harder to improve health, as they lose skilled workers faster than they can train new ones.

In the Balkans and Eastern Europe, this cycle is tough to break, and preventive policies alone are not enough without outside help.

Current trends continue, and Europe could see a gap of 10 to 12 years in life expectancy by the middle of the century.

The countries at the top will use new medical technologies to reach 88 to 90 years old, while those at the bottom may see little improvement or even fall back due to demographic and economic challenges.

Without strong policies to close this gap, more people will move from low-longevity to high-longevity countries, which could leave some regions even more depleted and put pressure on the countries that receive them.

Based on:

• United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2024). World Population Prospects 2024. https://population.un.org/wpp/
• Eurostat. (2025). EU life expectancy estimated at 81.7 years in 2024. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20250911-1
• World Health Organization. (2024). World health statistics 2024: Monitoring health for the SDGs. https://www.who.int/data/gho/publications/world-health-statistics