Poles are living longer—but where you live still matters

This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers

Life expectancy at birth in Poland reached 78.8 years in 2025, according to Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS). Statistically, this means that a person born last year can expect to live until 2105.

It is worth noting that this is a projected figure based on mortality patterns observed to date. In practice, people born in 2025 are likely to enjoy considerably longer lives on average, thanks to continued advances in medicine and broader improvements in living standards.

In reality, however, life expectancy still depends heavily on factors such as gender and place of residence.

Women live longer, but the gap is narrowing

Women in Poland had a life expectancy of 82.5 years in 2025, while for men it stood at 75.4 years, both the highest figures on record. The improvement has been particularly pronounced among men. Over the past two years alone, male life expectancy has increased by more than 0.7 years.

Since 2000, life expectancy has risen by 4.5 years for women and 5.6 years for men. Given that men have traditionally had shorter lifespans, this translates into a proportionally greater improvement: male life expectancy has increased by 8.1%, compared with 5.7% for women over the past 25 years.

As men’s life expectancy has risen more rapidly, the gap between the sexes has narrowed somewhat. In 2000, men’s life expectancy was 10.6% lower than women’s. The difference remained broadly unchanged until 2011 before beginning a gradual decline. It fell to 9.8% in 2015 and dropped further to 8.6% last year. The gap remains substantial, but the improvement is unmistakable.

Differences in mortality risk

The immediate drivers of this gap are illustrated in the chart above, which plots the probability of death (vertical axis) against age (horizontal axis). Up to around the age of 50, the risk appears virtually negligible for both sexes. After that point, however, the trajectories diverge sharply, with men facing a significantly higher probability of death than women.

For example, in 2025, the average 60-year-old woman faced a 0.5% probability of dying within the year. For the average man of the same age, the risk was more than twice as high, at 1.3%. The pattern was similar at age 70, when the annual probability of death stood at 1.5% for women and 3.1% for men. In other words, these figures represent the share of women and men of a given age who died during the previous year. The disparity persists all the way to age 100, although by then it has narrowed to a marginal difference: 31.5% for women, compared with 32.2% for men.

Why do men live shorter lives?

To examine gender differences in mortality more closely, it is also useful to view the same chart on a logarithmic scale. This expands the lower values, making it easier to see what happens at younger ages, when the probability of death is extremely low. The conclusion is clear: at every age, women face a lower risk of death than men. In the early decades of life, the difference is particularly pronounced.

At age 20, the annual probability of death is 0.02% for women, compared with 0.06% for men. By age 30, it rises to 0.04% versus 0.12%, and at age 40 to 0.08% for women and 0.25% for men.

There are several reasons for this disparity. Men tend to lead riskier lifestyles, are more likely to work in hazardous occupations, and have a greater propensity for substance use. They are also considerably more likely to struggle with mental health conditions. Another important factor is their higher susceptibility to cardiovascular disease, whether because of diet, longer working lives, genetic predisposition, or a combination of these factors. Together, these influences contribute to what demographers refer to as excess male mortality.

As a result, 86% of men can expect to reach the age of 60, compared with more than 94% of women. Fewer than 80% of men live to the statutory retirement age of 65. The difference is therefore more than threefold: statistically, 6 out of every 100 women die before reaching retirement age, compared with 21 out of every 100 men.

Podkarpackie has the highest life expectancy, Łódzkie the lowest

Regional disparities are equally pronounced. Both men and women have the highest life expectancy in Podkarpackie, where women can expect to live 84.2 years and men 77.1 years. Among men, Małopolskie ranks second at 76.8 years, while among women Podlaskie comes next with 83.7 years. Notably, Podkarpackie and Małopolskie are clear positive outliers for male longevity. In every other province, male life expectancy is below 76 years.

At the opposite end of the ranking is Łódzkie, which records the lowest life expectancy for both sexes. Men there live for just under 74 years on average, while women live for just over 81 years.

Regional differences are somewhat larger among men. In Podkarpackie, men live on average more than three years, or 4%, longer than in Łódzkie. For women, the corresponding gap is 2.8 years, or 3.5%.

The gender gap within provinces is widest in Świętokrzyskie, where women outlive men by eight years on average. The narrowest gap is in Pomorskie, where the difference is just over six years.

Eastern Poland comes out on top

A similar pattern emerges at the NUTS 3 subregional level, based on the EU’s territorial classification. The highest female life expectancy is concentrated in eastern Poland, as well as in the metropolitan areas of Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, and the Tri-City. In 2025, the highest figure was recorded in the Tarnobrzeg subregion, where women could expect to live 84.5 years.

The lowest life expectancy, by contrast, was found in parts of northern and western Poland, as well as in sections of Upper Silesia. Women in the Włocławek subregion had the shortest average lifespan, at 80.5 years.

The pattern is broadly similar for men. The difference is that the subregions with the highest life expectancy are more geographically dispersed, rather than concentrated primarily in eastern Poland and the country’s largest cities. In 2025, the highest male life expectancy was recorded in Warsaw, at 78.5 years, while the lowest was in the Skierniewice subregion, at 72.9 years.

The extremes are particularly striking. A woman living in the Tarnobrzeg subregion can expect to live almost 12 years longer than a man in the Skierniewice subregion.

Money is not always the deciding factor

Perhaps the most intriguing finding from the regional data is that longevity is not determined by prosperity—or at least not entirely. Residents of Poland’s largest cities indeed tend to live relatively long lives. Beyond the major urban centers, however, the regions with the highest life expectancy are often among the country’s less affluent. In 2024, Podkarpackie ranked as the third-lowest province in Poland by GDP per capita.

By contrast, the map of GDP per capita across Poland’s NUTS 3 subregions at times looks almost like the mirror image of the life expectancy maps. The Krosno subregion, which had the country’s lowest income per capita in 2023, ranked second nationwide for female life expectancy and eighth for men.

The reverse pattern can also be found. The city of Łódź is among Poland’s 10 wealthiest subregions (out of 73), yet its life expectancy is among the lowest in the country.

The message is clear: money is not everything.

Poles are living longer, with male life expectancy showing the most notable gains. In 2025, life expectancy at birth reached 78.8 years, with women expected to live 82.5 years on average and men 75.4 years. Although women continue to enjoy a significant longevity advantage, men have recorded stronger improvements in recent decades, gradually narrowing the gap between the sexes.
The probability of death is significantly higher among men at almost every stage of life. From a young age, men are more likely to die than women, resulting in substantially lower chances of reaching retirement age. This is the result of so-called excess male mortality, driven by a combination of health factors, lifestyle choices and occupational risks.
Life expectancy varies considerably across regions and is not determined solely by levels of prosperity. Residents of Podkarpackie live the longest, while those in Łódzkie have the shortest life expectancy, with similar patterns visible at the subregional level. The data show that relatively poorer regions often outperform significantly wealthier areas, suggesting that income is only one of many factors shaping longevity.