Healthy life expectancy continues to rise in France

At age 65, women can expect to live 11.8 years without disability—that is, without being limited in their daily activities—and men can expect to live 10.2 years, according to a Drees study.
 

In France, “life expectancy at birth has been steadily increasing, even though it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and has not yet returned to its 2019 level, prior to the pandemic,” notes the Directorate of Studies and Statistics of the Social Ministries. 
 

“But those extra years of life are not necessarily all lived ‘in good health,’” adds the Drees, which therefore publishes an annual indicator measuring healthy life expectancy.  This disability-free life expectancy at age 65 has increased since 2008 by one year and nine months for women and by one year and six months for men, according to Drees. 
 

In 2021, the most recent year for which this data is available for all European countries, France ranked fourth among the 27-member European Union in terms of disability-free life expectancy for men at age 65, with a figure above the European average (+1 year and 10 months). 
For women, France ranked third, again above the European average (+2 years and 8 months).