Life expectancy rises in Greece, OECD report says

Life expectancy at birth has risen in Greece to reach 80.7 years compared to an EU28 average of 79.2 years, according to a new OECD report.

Published in “Health at a Glance: Europe 2014,” the figure puts Greece at 13th place among its European Union peers, behind nations such as top-ranked Spain (82.5 years), Italy and France but ahead of more recent members such Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania, the latter at the bottom of the table at 74.1 years.

The rise in Greece reflects a similar trend across the bloc, where life expectancy has increased by more than five years on average since 1990, the report said. However, the gap between those states with the highest and lowest life expectancies remains around eight years.

“Although broad measurements of health status such as life expectancy have continued to improve in nearly all EU member states, it will take some additional years to be able to fully assess the impact of the crisis on public health,” the report said.

“Health at a Glance: Europe 2014” presents the most recent data on health status, risk factors to health and access to high-quality care in all 28 EU member states, candidate countries (with the exception of Albania due to limited data availability) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. The selection of indicators is based mainly on the European Core Health Indicators (ECHI), developed by the European Commission.