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Life expectancy reaches new post-Covid record, with Malaga leading Andalucía
Statistics

Life expectancy reaches new post-Covid record, with Malaga leading Andalucía

The people of Malaga province live an average of 83 years with women living almost five years longer on average than men, but the province is low on babies with a year-on-year decline

Nuria Triguero

Friday, 26 July 2024, 14:50

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Life expectancy in Andalucía was at 82.5 years in 2023, the highest figure since 1975, which is when such specific data started to be collated in the region. The data clearly show a recovery of life expectancy after the slump the Covid pandemic. The numbers had fallen in Andalucía, going from 82.1 years in 2019 to 81.4 years, both in 2020 and 2021, when more people were succumbing to the virus.

Malaga is the province with the highest life expectancy in all Andalucía. For the first time ever it has reached the 83-year mark in 2023. No other province in the region has yet reached that marker. Putting the eight provinces in order, after Malaga comes Granada (82.9), then Cordoba and Jaen (82.6), Seville (82.5), Cadiz (82), Huelva (81.8) and Almería (81.7).

Turning to genders, there is almost a five-year difference in expected longevity between women and men. Thus, in Malaga, female life expectancy is 85.3 years, while male life expectancy is 80.7. Curiously, if these indicators are compared by province, Malaga is not at the top of the female ranking: that honour goes to Granada, where women live an average of 85.5 years. However, Malaga makes up for this with its advantage in the male ranking, where it is four tenths ahead of the second best-placed province (again Granada, with 80.3 years).

The curve on the age graph over time shows that the increase in life expectancy is slow but sustained, except for extraordinary events such as Covid. Malaga residents born in 2023 will live 1.3 years longer on average than those born ten years earlier, 5 years longer than those born in 2003 and 6.3 years longer than those born in 1993.

All these data come from advance indications provided by the Andalusian Demographic Information System, a tool created by the Andalusian Institute of Statistics and Cartography (IECA) to analyse the demographic evolution of the whole region with breakdowns by province. In terms of life expectancy at birth women reached 85.1 years, which is 9.4 years more than in 1975. For men, it is 79.9 years. This is 5.2 years less than for women, but the increase compared to 1975 is greater, now at 10.2 years.

If life expectancy at the age of 65 is taken into account, 2023 will also be the highest ever: 20.5 years. This is an average of 18.6 years for men and 22.3 years for women. Here too the decline during the pandemic seems to have been overcome. At the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 the life expectancy at the age of 65 fell to 19.7 and 19.8 years respectively.

Average age of the population increases

The IECA also notes the increase in the average age of the population in Andalucía. In the advance data given thus far for 2024 the highest ever average age has been reached at 43.2 years. In the case of women, the average age was 44.4 years and for men, 42.0 years. Records clearly show the average age of the Andalusian population to be increasing. In 2000 it was 37.0 years, 6 years less than in 2024 and in 1971 it was 30.8 years. We can see why below when we discuss birth rates.

By provinces, taking into account the data for both sexes, the lowest average age was recorded in Almería with 41.2 years and the highest in Jaén with 44.8 years. Malaga is slightly above the regional average at 42.2 years.

Meanwhile, the mortality rate is determined by the number of deaths per 1,000 inhabitants during a given year. In 2023 this rate stood at 8.62 deaths in Andalucía, returning to more usual values after the increases recorded in 2020 (9.27) and 2021 (9.34). Naturally the pandemic in those two years yielded the highest mortality rates ever since records began in 1975. According to 2023's data, the mortality rate was higher in the male population, with 9 men dying per 1,000, while in the female population it was 8.24 women.

Birth rate down

As for the birth rate, 2023 was the year with the fewest births in Andalucía, with only 7.08 births per 1,000 inhabitants. In 2000 this rate stood at 11.04 births and in 1975 at 20.05 births. By province the highest birth rate was in Almería with 8.67 births per 1,000 inhabitants, while the lowest was in Cadiz and Malaga, both with only 6.60.

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