Europeans’ lifespans increasing, says study

The findings published in the International Journal of Epidemiology appear to mitigate concerns that rising life expectancy in high- income countries may falter in the face of obesity-related health problems.

Epidemiologist and population health expert Professor David Leon, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, concluded that in the last five years, most European countries have been going in a “positive direction” for the first time in decades, although the gap between East and West remains entrenched.

Professor Leon said: “Despite what many may have assumed, and without being complacent, current trends in European life expectancy are in a positive direction.”

He said deaths from cardiovascular disease in the UK had seen “some of the largest and most rapid falls of any Western European country, partly due to improvements in treatment as well as reductions in smoking and other risk factors”.

Meanwhile, the US was at the same level as the lowest of any Western European country (Portugal for males and Denmark for females), despite spending more per capita on health care than any other country in the world, with the rate for women increasing at a much slower pace than Western Europe.

In 2007, average life expectancy in the US was 78 years compared to 80 in the UK.