Tragic statistics. Poles' life expectancy is food for thought.
- In Poland, life expectancy remains significantly lower than the EU average - it amounts to 78.7 years (the life expectancy of a newborn EU resident was 81.7 years)
- Money.pl calculates that the lack of proportional improvement in the health of Poles to the increase in their wealth may be related, among other things, to the underfunding of the healthcare system.
- In 2023, healthcare spending in Poland will amount to less than 7% of GDP
- Another reason for the disproportion in the life expectancy of women and men in the countries of our region is excessive alcohol consumption.
Money.pl cites data showing that in 2024 the life expectancy of a newborn EU resident was 81.7 years, 0.3 years more than a year earlier and 0.4 years more than in 2019.
In Poland, life expectancy at birth increased to a similar extent to the EU average, but remained significantly lower at 78.7 years. Only the inhabitants of:
- Bulgaria (75.9),
- Romania (78.6),
- Latvia (78.6),
- Hungarian (78.6),
- Lithuania (78.6),
- Slovakia (78.6).
Since 2004, the average life expectancy in Poland has increased by 3.8 years, and in the last decade by only 0.9 years. The data shows that Poland has no longer been catching up with the EU average in terms of life expectancy since 2014. Money.pl notes that Poland – despite being one of the fastest-growing EU countries in the last two decades – has not seen a corresponding increase in average life expectancy .
The noticeable lack of proportional improvement in Poles' health relative to their growing wealth may have many causes. Money.pl explains that this stems, among other things , from underfunding of the healthcare system . While healthcare spending is rising, it barely keeps pace with the overall economy's growth after adjusting for inflation.
In 2023, healthcare spending in Poland was expected to be just under 7% of GDP, compared to 6.3% the previous year. On average, healthcare spending in Poland between 2013 and 2022 was 6.4% of GDP. According to Money.pl, only Romania and Luxembourg saw lower spending.
Another reason may be the higher number of fatal accidents than in most European countries, which results in "excess mortality at an early age", which deepens the demographic problems related to low fertility.
In 2024, the life expectancy of a male at birth in Poland was 75 years, which is 4.2 years less than the EU average, according to Money.pl. Poland, along with some Central and Eastern European countries, stands out negatively when compared to the EU average in terms of male life expectancy.
For comparison: in 2024, life expectancy at birth for Polish women was 82.5 years, compared to 82.1 the previous year, which is 1.9 years lower than the EU average. This makes Poland one of the infamous leaders in the EU in terms of the difference in life expectancy between men and women, as it was 7.5 years in 2024 , as the website points out.
Money.pl points out that another cause of the disparity in life expectancy between men and women in countries in our region is excessive alcohol consumption. According to this year's report from the National Institute of Public Health, in 2022, "the mortality rate among men in Poland due to health problems related to alcohol consumption was 114% higher than the EU average." It turns out that alcohol consumption causes Poles to lose 920 potential life years per 100,000 men and 234 potential life years per 100,000 women.
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