08/04/2021 (Agence Europe) – Life expectancy at birth has fallen in the vast majority of EU Member States, according to the latest figures published on Wednesday 7 April by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office. The largest decreases in life expectancy relative to 2019 were recorded in Bulgaria (-1.7 years), Latvia and Poland (both -1.5 years), and Spain and Romania (both -1.4 years). Men were slightly more affected in the majority of Member States. This negative trend halts an average gain of two years in life expectancy every decade since the 1960s, says Eurostat. This is partly due to the emergence of Covid-19, but a stagnation or even a decrease had already been observed in recent years in several Member States, it adds. To view the statistics: https://bit.ly/2OAHx0q (PH)