site.btaBulgarians Rank Third in Europe for Healthy Life Expectancy at Birth

Bulgaria ranks third among 30 European countries in terms of healthy life years at birth, according to Eurostat data released on Friday.

Bulgarians live in good health for an average of 68.6 years, placing this country just behind Malta and Italy.

Bulgarian women rank second. According to the data, in 2023, they registered an average of 71 healthy life years, just one month behind Maltese women. At the opposite end are Switzerland, Denmark, and Latvia, where women remain in good health only until around the age of 54–55.

Bulgarian men place fifth, with an average of 66.3 healthy years. They are behind men in Malta, Italy, Sweden, and Norway, with Maltese men reaching 71.7 years. The lowest figures for men were recorded in Slovakia (56.8 years), Estonia (56.5 years), and Denmark (51.2 years).

In 2023, the number of healthy life years at birth in the EU was 63.1 years on average, 63.3 years for women and 62.8 years for men.

Life expectancy at birth for women in the EU was, on average, 5.3 years longer than that for men (84 years compared with 78.7 years).

Healthy life years - free from activity limitations - represent 75% and 80% of the total life expectancy for women and men, respectively.

At country level, there were only 9 EU Member States where men registered more healthy life years than women.