Poland on the way to SDGs. Report 2025

The life expectancy of Poles increases every year, although the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily halted this trend in 2020–2021. Currently, the average life expectancy in Poland is the highest in history, reaching 78.7 years, while in 2015, it was 77.5 years. Despite the gradual improvement, Poles still live shorter than the average citizen of the EU (81.7 years). Poland is one of the nine EU countries where the average life expectancy does not exceed 80 years (most of them are Central and Eastern European countries).

Poles also live longer in good health. In 2023, the healthy life years in Poland was 63.1 years, i.e. 1.5 years longer than in 2015. The healthy life years in the EU is similar: the average European lives in good health for 63.1 years, which is 0.3 years longer than a few years before. Maltese and Italians live a healthy life the longest (approximately 70 years), while Latvians the shortest (less than 53 years). In most EU countries, the situation of women in terms of both life expectancy and healthy life years is better than that of men. In Poland, women live on average nearly 8 years longer than men and remain in good health nearly 3 years longer.

Life expectancy at birth and healthy life years at birth (in years)

Poland, like other EU countries, continues to face high mortality rates caused by civilisation diseases1, although their share in the total number of deaths is lower than in 2015. Diseases of the circulatory system and malignant neoplasms account for 61% of all deaths in Poland (compared to 71% in 2015). Similar trends are observed in the whole EU, where the combined share of deaths from diseases of the circulatory system and malignant neoplasms decreased (from 63% in 2015 to 55% in 2022).

The number of deaths caused by diseases of the circulatory system is decreasing in Poland: from 475 per 100,000 population in 2015 to 412 in 2023. Nevertheless, the situation in Poland in this respect is still worse than in the EU, where on average the number of such deaths does not exceed 400 per 100,000 inhabitants. On the other hand, mortality from malignant neoplasms increased in Poland from 265 in 2015 to 272 persons per 100,000 population. This number is higher than the EU average, where 258 persons per 100,000 died in 2022 (compared to 262 in 2015). Both in Poland and across the EU, diseases of the respiratory system and diabetes mellitus (also classified by the World Health Organisation as civilisation diseases) are becoming more common causes of death. In Poland, 83 people per 100,000 inhabitants died in 2023 from diseases of the respiratory system (64 in 2015) and 26 people due to diabetes mellitus (22 in 2015).

Suicide, although not classified as a disease, is considered by the World Health Organisation as one of the most serious health-related challenges that the modern world is facing. In 2021, more than 720,000 people worldwide took their own lives – that is as if a small town were to disappear from the map each day. Statistically, it is 9 deaths per 100,000 population. In Poland, the scale of this problem is similar to that in the EU: in 2015–2023, suicides accounted for an average of about 1% of all deaths per year. An average of 12–14 persons per 100,000 population took their own lives each year in Poland, which slightly exceeds the EU average (11–12 persons).

¹ According to the definition of the World Health Organisation, civilisation diseases are chronic conditions associated with the advancement of civilisation; these include diseases of the circulatory system, malignant neoplasms, diabetes mellitus and diseases of the respiratory system.

Number of deaths by selected causes per 100,000 population