Pandemic sees life expectancy drop by a year in Italy
The country registered more deaths in 2020 than in any other year since WWII, statistics agency reports
Life expectancy in Italy fell by almost a year in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, national statistics show.
Nationwide, life expectancy at birth was 82.3 years in 2020, down from 83.2 in 2019, with the figure falling more than 1-1/2 years in the north of the country which bore the brunt of the disease.
“COVID-19 completely wiped out life-expectancy gains made over the past decade in the north and partially wiped them out in other areas of the country,” the national statistics agency ISTAT said in an annual report on the nation’s wellbeing.
“This retreat is not yet finished and will take time to recoup,” it added.
