According to Vivalis, the main reasons for this positive development are changes in health behaviors, such as the decline in smoking and advances in healthcare.
But the agency's analysis also found that the improvements did not benefit everyone equally.
Data from 2017-2019 show significant differences in life expectancy between rich and poor neighborhoods in Brussels.
For example, the life expectancy of men living in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre (the municipality with the highest median income in 2019, according to the Belgian statistics office) is more than six years longer than that of the inhabitants of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode. , the poorest municipality in the capital region.
Children born today in the wealthier parts of Brussels can, on average, expect to live at least two years longer than children born in the least wealthy areas.
The report also found that the gap in life expectancy has widened over the past two decades, suggesting that the Belgian capital is becoming increasingly unequal.
Vivalis noted that “healthcare inequalities begin at or before birth” and called for a comprehensive health care and prevention policy that goes “beyond personal choices and seeks to improve the conditions in which the people of Brussels live, work and thrive”.