French seniors are enjoying longer periods of disability-free life expectancy without health limitations, marking France as a leading nation in quality of life expectancy.
According to a study from the Ministry of Health published on Tuesday, at the age of 65, French women can expect to live another 12 years without disability – as in, without being limited in the activities of daily life – with men hoping to have some 10.5 years disability-free.
This essentially corresponds to the number of years a person can expect to live without being limited by a health problem.
"Life expectancy is increasing steadily, but not all of these extra years of life are necessarily spent ‘in good health’," the French Social Ministries Statistics Directorate (Drees) explained.
France tops quality of life expectancy
A disability-free lifestyle at the age of 65 has increased by one year and eleven months for women and one year and ten months for men since 2008, according to Drees, placing France among the best countries in the world for quality of life expectancy.
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Over this period, disability-free life expectancy at age 65 has risen faster than life expectancy.
Between 2008 and 2023, the proportion of years remaining to be lived without disability at age 65 rose from just under 45 percent to over 50 percent for women, and from under 48 percent to almost 53 percent for men, according to the statistics monitor.
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In 2022, France was the fifth country in the European Union in terms of disability-free life expectancy for women aged 65, two years and six months higher than the European average.
For men, France ranked seventh in the EU, above the European average but with a smaller gap – by one year and four months.
