In Finland, life expectancy at birth has lengthened by 0.3 years for both boys and girls in the last year compared with 2018.
According to Statistics Finland, the life expectancy at birth was 79.2 years for boys and 84.5 years for girls in 2019.
Men catching up with women
The difference between the sexes in life expectancy at birth was 5.4 years.
In the last 30 years, the life expectancy of newborn boys has increased by 8.5 years and that of girls by 5.8 years. The difference between the sexes was greatest in the late 1970s, when it was nine years.
The life expectancy of 65-year-old men was 18.6 years and that of women aged 65 was 22 years in 2019. Compared to 1988, the life expectancy of 65-year-old men has been lengthened by 5 years and that of women 4.5 years.
Swedish-speaking people live longer
In the period 2017 to 2019, the life expectancy of both newborn boys and girls was longest in Åland: 81.2 years for boys and 85.8 years for girls. In turn, the life expectancy of newborn boys was shortest in North Karelia, 77.3 years, and of newborn girls in Lapland, 83.3 years.
Men's life expectancy was shorter than that of women in all regions.
Life expectancy at birth was highest for both men and women in urban municipalities and lowest in rural municipalities. The life expectancy of newborn boys in big cities, 79.1 years, was nearly one year longer than in rural areas, 78,1 years. For girls, it was 84.4 years in urban municipalities and 84,1 years in the countryside.
Examined by native language, there were differences in the lengths of life expectancy in the period 2017 to 2019.
The life expectancy of boys speaking Swedish as their native language was 81 years, which is over two years longer than the life expectancy of boys speaking Finnish as their native language, 78.7 years.
The difference for girls was similar but not as large. The life expectancy of girls speaking Swedish as their native language was 85.4 years and the life expectancy of girls speaking Finnish was a good year shorter, 84.3 years.
