In a troubling development, life expectancy growth has stalled across much of Europe in recent years, with England experiencing the most precipitous decline. While medical advances drove steady gains throughout the 20th century, a perfect storm of poor diet, widespread obesity, and sedentary lifestyles now threatens to undo that progress.
According to research published in the Lancet Public Health journal, average annual life expectancy growth across 20 European countries plummeted from 0.23 years between 1990-2011 to just 0.15 years from 2011-2019. England fared worst of all, registering a staggering 0.18 year drop.
“The slowdown in life expectancy improvements, particularly due to cardiovascular disease and cancer, highlights the urgent need for stronger action on the root causes – poor diet, physical inactivity, and obesity.”
– Sarah Price, NHS England’s Director of Public Health
Heart Disease and Cancer Drive Declines
Researchers identified rising rates of heart disease and cancer mortality as the primary culprits behind Europe’s life expectancy stagnation. From 2011-2019, these chronic illnesses emerged as the dominant drag on longevity after years of progress.
This reversal coincided with increasing body mass index (BMI) levels, poor dietary habits, and disturbingly low physical activity across the continent. In other words, as Europeans grew heavier, ate worse, and moved less, their risk of dying prematurely from cardiovascular events and malignancies spiked.
England Hit Hardest
While nearly every European nation saw life expectancy gains evaporate, England experienced the most dramatic slowdown. Between 1990-2011, life expectancy in England grew by an impressive 0.25 years annually on average. But in the 2011-2019 period, that plummeted to a meager 0.07 years per year.
Lead researcher Prof Nicholas Steel of the University of East Anglia pointed to England’s particularly abysmal performance on key dietary, obesity, and activity indicators as likely explanations for its outsized drop. Reversing these entrenched, negative trends won’t happen overnight.
“These trends are decades long – there isn’t a quick fix. This is about the big, long-term population protections from risk – so engaging with the food industry to improve our national diet to make it easier for people to eat healthier food and make it easier for people to move a little bit in our day-to-day lives.”
– Prof Nicholas Steel, Lead Researcher, University of East Anglia
A Few Bright Spots
Amid the general malaise, a handful of countries like Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, and Belgium managed to preserve more of their previous life expectancy progress. Notably, these nations maintained their longevity edge even through the Covid-19 pandemic’s ravages.
What set this group apart? According to researchers, they proactively addressed major heart disease and cancer risk factors through robust government policies. By creating environments more conducive to healthy eating and active living, they staved off the worst impacts of the obesogenic epidemic plaguing their neighbors.
Recommendations and Next Steps
The study’s authors assert that Europe has not yet hit a natural ceiling on human lifespan. Significant opportunities remain to reduce untimely deaths, especially at younger ages. But realizing those gains will require aggressive government actions to reshape default lifestyle patterns and disrupt intergenerational cycles of poor health.
- Engage food industry to improve nutritional profiles and limit ultra-processed options
- Invest in active transportation infrastructure to boost incidental exercise
- Launch sustained public education campaigns around diet, weight, and movement
- Embed prevention deeply into healthcare systems to catch issues earlier
While the UK government insists it has a comprehensive plan to prioritize wellness, experts remain skeptical that it goes far enough, fast enough. The NHS can’t “treat its way out” of such a massive public health crisis alone.
“Advances in public health and medicine in the 20th century meant that life expectancy in Europe improved year after year, but this is no longer the case.”
– Prof Nicholas Steel, Lead Researcher, University of East Anglia
As this research makes abundantly clear, Europe sits at a critical inflection point. Will its leaders muster the political courage to enact the bold, society-wide changes needed to put life expectancy back on an upward trajectory? The health and longevity of tens of millions hang in the balance.
