Romanians over 65 think they will live a healthy life for five to six more years, while their life expectancy is of 14 to 17 years above that age, according to recent data form EU's statistics office Eurostat. Romania is thus at the bottom of the chart on healthy life expectancy in Europe and in the EU, and below the EU average of 8.8 years for women and 8.7 healthy years for men.

The highest healthy life expectancy rate in the Europe is in Norway, for women, who expect to live healthy until almost 81, while men expect to have a healthy live until 79. In the EU, Sweden tops the chart. Its inhabitants hope to stay healthy until 80 – for women and 79 for men.

European women who turned 65 hope to live until 86, while European men, until 82, on average. The French hope to be healthier more years– 23.5 years beyond 65 for women and 18.9 years after 65 for men. Spain is also high up on charts, with a life expectancy of 22.7 years above 65 for women and 18.6 years over 65 for men.

Romanians hope to reach their 82nd birthday in case of women and their 79th for men.

Interestingly, countries where the population has the highest life expectancy at the age of 65 are not necessarily the same as those with the most healthy life years at 65, while the indicator varies between women and men. In all countries women have a longer life expectancy at 65 than men, while for healthy life years at the age of 65, men have a higher number of years than women in just ten countries.

The full Eurostat report here.

editor@romania-insider.com