Life expectancy in Spain has broken a record: for the first time it exceeds 84 years. It does so after increasing by 10 years since 1975. Data revealed this week by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) for 2024, which places the average at 84.01 years, also reflects a significant increase compared to 2023, when life expectancy at birth reached 83.7 years. This once again places Spain on the podium of the countries with the longest-lived population on the planet, together with Japan, South Korea and Switzerland. Growth has also remained strong over time, with a collapse during the Covid pandemic relegating Spain to ninth place from which it soon recovered.
The pillar supporting this longevity, generally lived in good health, is none other than the consolidation of a welfare state which, with its defects, has radically improved the living conditions of citizens in this period. Spanish society can celebrate that its efforts to maintain universal public healthcare, a pension system, health policies with a strong strengthening of prevention, as well as various social benefits for the most vulnerable, are working.
But these data on longevity also reveal shadows. Women live significantly longer than men: 86.53 years, compared to their 81.38 years, although in worse health. Equality policies have a lot to do to eliminate this double gap: on the one hand, improve the lives of women, who continue to bear the brunt of domestic and care work and the worst working and salary conditions; but also raise awareness among the male population of the importance of self-care and prevention.
The progressive inversion of the demographic pyramid confirmed by statistics, with an increasingly widening at the top due to the aging of the generation of baby boompresents Spanish society with great challenges. A paradigm shift is needed in how we collectively understand the approach to these ten years gained. No society can afford to ignore that third of life that begins after retirement of millions of men and women who have so much to offer, but also to ask. Naturally, it is necessary to strengthen traditional pension formulas and strengthen assistance and care systems. But there is also a need for collective reflection on how to open social, economic, cultural and professional windows for an increasingly larger group of citizens who have the right to a full life and not a retreat.
The record life expectancy in Spain is not only the reward of a decades-long collective effort, but is also a sensational response to the increasingly widespread discourse against the welfare state guaranteed by the Constitution.
