Nutrition, key factor in life expectancy drop

04 April 2025

The rise in human life expectancy has slowed down across Europe since 2011, according to research from the University of East Anglia.

A new study, published in The Lancet Public Health, reveals that poor nutrition, physical inactivity and obesity are largely to blame for the reduction in life expectancy improvements between 2011 and 2019. The Covid pandemic had an impact between 2019 and 2021.

The study found that deaths from cardiovascular diseases were the primary driver of the reduction in life expectancy improvements in the last 15 years, with obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol either increasing or no longer improving in almost all countries. Researchers studied data from 12,000 collaborators across more than 160 countries and territories, from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 study, the largest and most comprehensive research to date.

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, along with little physical activity, and alcohol consumption and use of tobacco.

The countries that best maintained improvements in life expectancy after 2011 are Norway, Iceland, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. These findings suggest that government policies that improve population health — tackling the commercial determinants of poor health, and ensuring access to affordable health services — achieve better outcomes.