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According to a study carried out by the DREES, life expectancy in good health is increasing in France. The good news is that this applies to both men and women.
More than life expectancy, it is life expectancy in good health that counts, in order to take full advantage of these years once retired and with more free time. According to the results of a study conducted by the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees), after 65, we have an average of between 11 and 13 years left in good health.
Difference Between Life Expectancy and Healthy Life Expectancy
According to the common definition, life expectancy at birth “corresponds to the average number of years that a fictitious generation can hope to live by being subject, at each age, to the mortality conditions of a given year“.
In France, it tends to increase slightly each year and reaches in 2022, 79.4 years for men and 85.4 years for women. Disability-free life expectancy or “in good health”she evaluates for her part “the number of years a person can expect to live without suffering from a disability in the activities of daily living“. It is calculated in number of years from age 65. For women, this disability-free life expectancy amounts to 12.6 years and for men to 11.3 years, in 2021. Without severe disability, the figures go up to 18.8 years for women and 16.2 years for men.
Life expectancy in good health: the French gain around 2 years
After age 65, women can therefore expect to live to age 77.6 without major health problems. For men, it is up to 76.3 years. In comparison with the latest results dating from 2018, women have therefore gained 2.7 years of healthy life, and men 2.8 years.
Disability-free life expectancy at age 65 therefore increases much faster than life expectancy. “Thus, in 2021, for men, the years without disability accounted for 59.3% of the years remaining to live at age 65, compared to 47.7% in 2008. For women, the proportion of years without disability in the life expectancy life at age 65 has increased from 44.7% in 2008 to 54.4% in 2021” precisely reports the DREES, which also recalls that in France, the disability-free life expectancy of men at 65 is eight months higher than the European average and for women, it is higher by one year and eight month.