With their fondness for chocolate, beer, waffles, and, of course, frites, Belgians have earned a reputation for being "bons vivants". As it turns out, this is true in an almost literal sense as a recent study finds that Belgians live on average nearly two years longer than other Europeans.
A report published on Monday by the EU statistics office Eurostat found that Belgians recorded an average life expectancy of 81.9 years at birth in 2021: the eighth highest lifespan in the bloc and well above the EU average of 80.1 years.
Belgians were expected to outlive their neighbours in the Netherlands (81.4) and Germany (80.8). However, they were predicted to die younger than neighbouring citizens in Luxembourg (82.7) and France (82.4).
Spain posted the highest life expectancy in the EU (83.3), followed by Sweden (83.1) and Italy (82.7). Conversely, Bulgaria recorded the lowest life expectancy in the bloc (71.4), while citizens of Romania (72.8) and Latvia (73.1) were forecast to live the second and third shortest lives respectively.
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The study also found that Belgian women can expect to live significantly longer than their male compatriots. In 2021, the average female life expectancy was 84.3 years: nearly five years more than the average male (79.4).
In addition, the report found that residents of Brussels have noticeably shorter lives than the typical Belgian citizen. In particular, the projected lifespan in the Belgian capital in 2021 was 81.4 years: half a year less than in the rest of Belgium. (In Brussels, women were expected to live on average for 83.9 years and men for 78.7 years.)
Residents of Flemish Brabant (83.6) were reported to have the highest life expectancy across the whole of Belgium, while citizens were forecast to live the shortest lives in Hainaut province (79.0).
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Eurostat also noted that Belgium's life expectancy has fallen steeply since 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. The average life expectancy that year was just 80.8 years – roughly a year less than in 2021. As the most densely populated region in Belgium, Brussels was hit especially hard, registering an average life expectancy of just 79.4 years – 2 years less than in 2021.
Belgium's life expectancy has still not yet returned to pre-Covid levels. In 2019, the country's average lifespan was 82.1 years, or approximately two-and-a-half months more than it is today.
Over the past three decades, however, Belgium has recorded substantial improvements in life expectancy. In 1990 – the first year in which Eurostat began collecting data – the country's average lifespan was just 76.2: nearly six years less than in 2021. Notably, at that time Brussels residents enjoyed longer lives than the typical Belgian, at 77.0 years.
