The European Union has the highest life expectancy in the world.

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The claim that the EU has the highest life expectancy in the world is factually incorrect. The EU average life expectancy of 81.7 years (Eurostat, 2024) is substantially lower than that of Monaco (86.5), San Marino (86.0), Hong Kong (85.9), and Japan (85.2), among others.

The difference between the EU average and the actual world leader (Monaco) is approximately 4.8 years, well beyond any rounding tolerance.

Omissions

• The MEP used the rhetorical term 'unmatched' which was normalized to a factual claim that the EU has the highest life expectancy worldwide. The original speech framing was a value statement comparing life expectancy to GDP rather than a precise statistical claim.
• The EU average masks significant variation across Member States: some EU countries (e.g. Spain, Italy) have life expectancies above 83 years, but still below the world leaders.
• The claim lacks a specified time period. The most recent available data (2024 Eurostat) is used for comparison.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat (European Commission)According to preliminary 2024 data, life expectancy at birth in the EU was 81.7 years, up 0.3 years compared with 2023.
• PrimaryEurostat Statistics ExplainedIn 2024, life expectancy at birth in the EU was 81.5 years, up from 81.4 in 2023. For women, life expectancy at birth in the EU was 84.1 years in 2024.
• SecondaryWorldometerCountries ranked by life expectancy (2026): Monaco 86.73, San Marino 86.03, Hong Kong 85.9, Japan 85.15. EU average of 81.7 ranks well below these leaders.
• SecondaryWorld Population ReviewMonaco has the highest life expectancy in 2026 at 86.5 years. The global average life expectancy in 2026 is 73.8.