Technical sheet: Life expectancy at birth
Definition, official source, coverage and calculation method of Life expectancy at birth. Country ranking →
Source: Eurostat (demo_mlexpec), retrieved 2026-10-16 · View on Eurostat
What it measures
| Indicator | Life expectancy at birth |
|---|---|
| Unit | years |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Access | Registered |
Official Eurostat definition
| Dataset | Life expectancy by age and sex (demo_mlexpec) |
|---|---|
| Time frequency | Annual |
| Unit of measure | Year |
| Sex | Total |
| Age class | Less than 1 year |
| Permanent identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.2908/DEMO_MLEXPEC |
| Eurostat explanatory notes | Explanatory texts (metadata) |
| Last dataset update at Eurostat | 2026-09-25 |
How to read it
A higher value indicates a more favourable situation.
Coverage
| Countries with data | 39 ·                                        |
|---|---|
| First period available | 1960 |
| Latest period published | 2024 |
| Ranking reference period | 2024 Latest period for which at least 60% of the countries that publish the indicator have released data, so the ranking is not built on a few early countries. |
IPEF calculations
- Year-on-year change: difference from the same period a year earlier (in points for percentages, as a percentage (%) otherwise).
- Rank: order among countries with data for the period; the EU27 and euro-area aggregates are not ranked. Ties share the same rank.
- Trend: latest figure against the average of the previous periods (12 months, 8 quarters, 4 half-years or 5 years).
- IPEF calculations on Eurostat data: changes, ranks and averages are computed among the countries with data for the period. The EU27 and euro-area aggregates are those published by Eurostat and are not ranked.