In european countries, women live between 3 and 10 years longer than men

In 2018, life expectancy at birth in France is 85.5 years for women and 79.5 years for men. Women therefore live 6.0 years longer than men in France, compared to an average of 5.5 years in the European Union (EU). In all EU countries women live longer than men. Gaps are between 3 and 10 years depending on the country.

In France, at the age of 60, men have one of the highest life expectancies in Europe. This is not the case for their life expectancy at birth, which is only in ninth place. Indeed, while early male mortality is relatively high in France compared to its european neighbours, it is more moderate at older ages. For women, life expectancy at birth, as well as life expectancy at the age of 60, is one of the highest in the EU.

Life expectancy has been increasing for decades. Nevertheless, it has been rising less rapidly in recent years, in France as in most European countries.

Life expectancy has also been growing less quickly for women than for men, thus reducing the gap between women and men. From 2002 to 2018, this gap decreased by 1.3 year on average in France, and by 1.1 year in the EU as a whole.