Life expectancy in Belgium 2008-2022, by gender

In 2022, life expectancy at birth in Belgium reached 81.69 years. However, life expectancy was subject to gender disparity. In 2022, Belgian women had a life expectancy at birth of 83.78 years, whereas men had a life expectancy of 79.55 years. Life expectancy also differed from one country to another. For instance, in 2020, a Frenchman could at birth expect to live up to 79.2 years and a Dutch person up to 82 years. With that being said, the Belgian life expectancy at birth correlates with western European figures in 2020.

An unclear measure

In 2020, worldwide human life expectancy at birth was of 70 years for men and 75 years for women. However, comparing life expectancy between several countries can be tricky. Indeed, one country could have a rather high life expectancy at birth when another could have a rather low expectancy. Considering the median and mode are therefore crucial.

Life expectancy is commonly confused with the average age an adult could expect to live. This confusion may create the expectation that an adult would be unlikely to exceed an average life expectancy. Yet this statistical measure is based on probability. At every age, life expectancy compares the number of survivors who share the same age. In this sense, life expectancy increases with age as the individual survives the higher mortality rates. In order to compare an age cohort with its corresponding mortality rates, deaths and births need to be acutely registered.

The evolution of life expectancy

Such lists of deaths and births only started to appear in the 19th century. In old times, it can be assumed that life expectancy was fairly low. However, these times were also characterized by very high childhood mortality. It is, therefore, crucial to consider this when comparing life expectancy throughout history. When looking at life expectancy at age 10 in these times, figures are not as low as birth numbers can make you believe. Nowadays, paleodemographist can perform skeletal analysis and genetic analysis to better understand the evolution of life expectancy.

Nonetheless, an adult who has already avoided many statistical causes of mortality should expect to outlive the average life expectancy calculated from birth. Furthermore, life expectancy has undoubtedly risen hand in hand with the evolution of hygiene, technology, medicine, and living standards in general.