Why Southern Europeans live for so long | Mint

The Calle de Jordán, a short street in Central Madrid, includes the entire cycle of human life. On one block is a fertility clinic, an increasingly common face in a country obsessed by the shortage of babies. A block further down is a day center for pensioners, advertising services such as memory training and help with mobility. It is common to see that women in their 60s lead their 90-something mothers to the door. The Institute of Health Statistics and Evaluation at the University of Washington recently released projections for long life by country in 2050. Among the top -20 to live up to a ripe age are rich like Switzerland and Singapore. East Asia is also represented by South Korea and Japan, long -term leaders in the long life. But a geographical group of relatively poorer countries is also conducive to longer lives: Spain, Italy, France and Portugal. (Three nearby microstates, San Marino, Malta and Andorra, also make the top -20.) The oldest person in life is a Spanish woman, Maria Branyas Morera (117), who followed a French one. Health and longevity correlate surprisingly with GDP per capita. Why do Southern Europe perform better than the usual relationship between wealth and health, which makes the average lifetime in Spain (85.5 years in 2050) longer than that of the average Dane (83.5)? Many indicate the ‘Mediterranean diet’ – fish, whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables and olive oil. However, critics point out that diet is very different from Portugal to Greece. Besides, researchers find that today’s Mediterranean does not adhere to their namesake diet. Plazas in Spain are full of people eating fried fish and seasoned ham, which has been rinsed with beer for hours, some can be considered improperly. Spaniards drink more drinks and smoke slightly more than the European average, and are one of Europe’s largest cocaine users. Dan Buettner, who has written several books on areas where people have lived for a long time, notes that understanding why people are old should not look at today’s habits, but at half a century ago, when people ate “Boerekos”, dominated by grains, beans and tubes. In a recent study of the ‘Blue Zone’ (a designation for areas with many centenary) in Sardinia, the diet included ‘famine food’, such as bread made of acorn trees and clay and a cheese produced with insect larvae. The most striking fish product was seasoned, dried mullet egg sticks; Domestic shepherds rarely ate fresh fish. Diet nowadays includes Western processed foods today, but “cultural inertia” keeps them a little healthier, says Mr Buettner. That shepherd past points to another factor: movement. Spaniards lead Western Europe in steps per day at 5.936, according to a 2017 study. (Italy, France and Portugal are less impressive.) The study found that countries with “activity inequality” – some productive hikers, but many potatoes, such as in America and Saudi Arabia – have the highest obesity. Those where everyone moved a reasonable amount, as in Spain, had low. This has apparently reduced deaths due to obesity -related illnesses. Four of the world’s most walkable cities are in Spain. Look at our full ranking of the world’s most, and least, active cities. Why do Spaniards move so much? Spanish cities, and even small Pueblos, are densely populated; Click on the city limits and you are often on an empty countryside. Neither culture nor regulation benefits the vast suburbs, so even with an abundance of land, live Spaniards above each other. Paris and other places aimed at creating ’15 minutes of cities’, where most necessities are within walking radius, can learn a lot from Spain. The same study that looked at “activity inequality” investigated urban America and found that dense cities such as New York and Boston had larger (and more evenly distributed) levels of activity than vast places such as Atlanta and Phoenix. But to emphasize the diet and exercise, miss a piece of the puzzle. Spain’s walkability is also good for social life. Cities are built around squares where friends, family and co -workers sit, eat, drink and talk. It seems to be good for you, even if you drink vermouth and eat chips by noon. Research shows that social contact is critical to physical and psychological well -being. According to a recent recording by Gallup, a ballot box, and Meta, a social media business, 76% of the Spaniards say they support “a lot” or “reasonably” socially. This is above average, although not above the table. Gallup head Jon Clifton says the research of his firm shows that Spaniards are quite unhappy and disconnected at work. He says that a heading in El País, a newspaper, is more or less right: Spain is “the best country to live in and work the worst”. But work is not everything. Spaniards are fourth in the world when asked if they saw friends or family living near or with them over the past week (Greece was second). It is perhaps the unexpected advantage of the fact that many young Southern Europeans cannot find good enough to afford to move out of their parents’ homes. Family bonds remain strict, even in difficult times such as the financial crisis and the pandemic. Southern European countries do not achieve the highest on happiness – the title has long been held by Denmark and Finland. But congratulations weight weight long -term life satisfaction heavier than in the short term smile and laugh. Those kind of joyful emotions are most reported by Latin Americans. And metaphorically and physically, a line from Helsinki to Buenos Aires would go through Spain. That country has European levels of wealth (the best predictor of happiness) and healthcare (which keeps people alive), while also sharing cultural traits with Latin Americans: to live at the moment and estimate friendships and families. It’s not just good in itself. They keep you going too. First Published: 29 Apr 2025, 09:31 PM IST