The countries that best maintained gains in life expectancy after 2011, namely Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium, maintained or boosted life expectancy even during the pandemic.
However, deaths due to heart disease were a key driver of the slowdown in life expectancy growth from 2011 to 2019, coinciding with increasing BMI levels and high exposure to poor diets and low physical activity.
He added: “Countries like Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, and Belgium held on to better life expectancy after 2011, and saw reduced harms from major risks for heart disease, helped by government policies.
The average annual growth in life expectancy across the continent fell from 0.23 years between 1990 and 2011 to 0.15 years between 2011 and 2019, according to research published in the Lancet Public Health journal.
During the Covid pandemic between 2019 and 2021, all countries except Ireland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belgium experienced a decline in life expectancy, with Greece and England experiencing the largest falls.
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