Wiesbaden (dpa / lsw) - Unlike in other federal states, the average life expectancy during the corona pandemic in Baden-Württemberg has hardly fallen. Compared to 2019, boys born in the southwest in 2021 are expected to live to an average of 79.56 years, according to calculations by the Federal Institute for Population Research. That would be around 0.25 years - i.e. three months - less than for boys born in the year before the pandemic. For girls, the decline is about 0.10 years to the last 84.13 years.
The values published on Wednesday are below the national average of a minus of 0.61 years for boys and 0.37 years for girls. The development in the southern regions of East Germany is even clearer. In the federal states of Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia, which were particularly affected by corona waves, the average life expectancy of newborn boys in 2021 was around one and a half years lower than before the pandemic, and for girls just over a year.
According to the experts, a falling life expectancy of more than one year is very unusual outside of wartime. "Reductions of this magnitude were last recorded at the end of the GDR," explained research director Sebastian Klüsener. The regional differences can be explained, among other things, with the infection situation, the corona measures taken and the behavior of the population. The proximity to severely affected neighboring countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland also plays a role.
Schleswig-Holstein is at the other end of the scale. According to the information, life expectancy there increased by 0.18 years for newborn boys from 2019 to 2021, while there was a slight decline in the forecasts for girls with a minus of 0.25.
Before the start of the pandemic, life expectancy in Germany had increased by around 0.1 years annually. In 2020, it initially fell slightly in many regions. When corona mutations such as the delta variant dominated in 2021, the development became clearer.
Life expectancy calculates the average length of life that newborns would live if the age-specific mortality rates recorded in one year were held constant over the next 115 years.
