People in France living longer in good health - and for longer than in UK and US
New official data also shows a rise in the number of years of good health before disability begins to affect quality of life
People in France can expect to live longer in good health than those in many other countries
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Those in France have more years of good health than average in Europe, with people reaching the age of 77 for women and 75.5 for men before poor health begins to hinder them, a new study shows.
The report from national statistics research agency DREES (Direction de la recherche, des études et de l’évaluation des statistiques) was published on December 31, and shows figures to the year 2023.
They show the number of years of good health before medical issues begin to set in and hamper quality of life. DREES defines this as “the number of years that a person can expect to live without being limited by a health problem in the activities of daily life”.
This is termed “disability-free life expectancy at age 65”.
France above European average
France scores higher than the European average (average across all 27 member states).
European average: Two years, six months for women, and one year, four months for men after age 65 (equating to age 67 and six months for women, and 66 and four months for men).
France average: 12 years for women, and 10.5 years for men (age 77 and 75.5 respectively).
In fact the study shows that women in France can actually expect to live 15.8 years after age 65 before any disability is serious enough to affect their quality of life, and men can expect 18.5 years after age 65. This equates to age 80.5 for women, and age 83.5 for men (slightly higher than the figures from statistics bureau INSEE).
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The healthy life expectancy in France is considerably higher than that in the UK and the US.
The UK’s Office for National Statistics puts this at 62.7 for women and 62.4 for men in England (and 60.3 for women and 61.1 for men in Wales).
Similarly, the disability-free life expectancy at age 65 (before any disability is serious enough to affect their quality of life) in England is 10.7 for women and 10.5 for men. This equates to age 75.7 for women and 75.5 for men.
In the US figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that healthy life expectancy at birth was 63.9 in 2021, averaged across men and women.
Good health life expectancy rising in France
The latest DREES report also shows that good health life expectancy has been rising “steadily since 2008, for both women and men” in France.
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Since 2008, “disability-free life expectancy at the age of 65 has grown faster than [total] life expectancy”, it said. Total life expectancy in France has reached 85.7 years for women and 80 years for men, show figures from national statistics bureau INSEE (slightly lower figures than those shown by DREES).
Life expectancy in good health has increased “by 1 year and 11 months for women and 1 year and 10 months for men” in France since 2008, figures show.
“These trends reflect the fact that the age at which chronic diseases associated with ageing begin to appear is rising,” DREES said.
