Decline in Life Expectancy at Birth in Hungary

The impact of the new coronavirus epidemic is also reflected in life expectancy at birth: while in 2020, it was 75.7 years in Hungary, according to Eurostat data, it fell to 74.3 years in 2021. Such a decline is unprecedented in Hungary since 1960.

According to pension expert András Farkas, the pandemic has hit life expectancy worldwide, but he says this 1.4-year decline is "not that tragic at all, it will pass in a few years" – that is it does not mean that people living now will live 1.4 years less. This figure is really just a measure of how long someone would live if they were subject to the mortality risks of their birth year for their entire life.

Biostatistician Tamás Ferenci says that although life expectancy in 2022 will be better than last year's figure, it will still fall short of the pre-pandemic era.

In 2021, the gap in life expectancy between men and women widened further, with the average Hungarian man living to 70.7 years and the average woman to 77.8 years, according to Eurostat. According to a family doctor, this difference can be attributed partly to the excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco by men.