According to data from Eurostat, a child born in Madrid can expect to live up to 85.7 years, making it the region in the European Union with the highest life expectancy. This figure has remained largely consistent since the start of the 2010s, except for 2020, which was impacted by the global pandemic. Madrid is closely followed by the Italian provinces of Trente and Bolzano, as well as the Swedish region of Stockholm, which all share second place with a life expectancy of 85 years. These four regions are the only ones in Europe to reach the 85-year mark. Switzerland, which is not part of the EU, has a national average of 84.2 years in 2024, slightly higher than Spain’s EU-wide average of 84 years. At the other end of the spectrum, the Severozapaden region in the northwest of Bulgaria has the lowest life expectancy at 73.9 years, followed by Mayotte, a French overseas territory, with 74.5 years. The European Union's average life expectancy is 81.5 years. In France, Île-de-France, which includes Paris, leads with a life expectancy of 84.6 years, while Nord-Pas-de-Calais has the lowest at 81.3 years. According to Insee, France’s national statistics office, the life expectancy for women in France in 2025 is estimated at 85.9 years, while for men it is 80.3 years. This marks a historically high level for women but places French men in tenth place among European countries. A study published in early 2026 by the National Institute of Demographic Studies (Ined) in the journal Nature Communications examined the progress of life expectancy in 450 European territories from 1992 to 2019. The study found that life expectancy continues to increase, with the most advanced territories gaining about two and a half months of life expectancy per year for men, compared to one and a half months for women. Regions such as the north of Italy, Switzerland, and certain Spanish provinces are part of this group. In France, Paris, the Hauts-de-Seine, and the Yvelines are also in the leading group, along with departments around Anjou and near the Swiss border. However, since the middle of the 2000s, other territories have fallen behind. This is particularly the case in eastern Germany, Wallonia in Belgium, parts of the United Kingdom, and several departments of Hauts-de-France in France. The reasons cited include increasing mortality rates between the ages of 55 and 74 in certain areas of Germany and France, attributed to factors such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, unbalanced diets, and lack of physical activity.