Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, life expectancy at birth has declined in the vast majority of the EU countries, Eurostat said on Wednesday citing data for 2020.

The largest decreases were recorded in Spain (-1.6 years compared with 2019) and Bulgaria (-1.5), followed by Lithuania, Poland and Romania (all -1.4).

In Croatia, life expectancy at birth decreased by 0.8 years, from 78.6 to 77.8 years.

Life expectancy increased only in Denmark and Finland, by 0.1 year.

Men were slightly more affected in the majority of the EU member states, with the largest decreases in life expectancy recorded in Bulgaria (-1.7 years), Latvia and Poland (both -1.5 years) as well as Spain and Romania (both -1.4 years).

Life expectancy at birth has been increasing over the past decade in the EU. Official statistics reveal that life expectancy has risen, on average, by more than two years per decade since the 1960s. However, the latest available data suggest that life expectancy stagnated or even declined in recent years in several EU member states, Eurostat said.