Madrid, Salamanca: places to live in Spain for long life

A recent study shows that the places to live in Spain if you want a long life are the capital city of Madrid and Salamanca in the west of the country.

However, the study published recently in the Journal of Epidemology and Community Health shows that some areas of southern Spain have some of the lowest life expectancies in Europe, with socio-economic differences the most probable explanation.

The study was carried out all over Europe by comparing survival rates of 296,725 people between the ages of 75 and 84 during the periods 1991-2001 and 2001-2011.

The study showed that in 2001 an average of 27 percent of men aged between 75 and 84 lived for 10 years beyond that age, while 40 percent of women lived for a further 10 years.

That had increased significantly by 2011 with 34 percent of men and 47 percent of women on average living for an extra 10 years.

However, beyond the norm the study found there were important geographic differences in survival rates with higher than average survival rates found in Salamanca and Madrid and also in the Principality of Andorra in Iberia, while the Swiss city of Geneva was also a place that appears to ensure long life for its inhabitants.

In contrast, areas of the south of Spain, and industrial areas of the UK, such as Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and London, have poor survival rates, along with industrial areas of France.

The study points out that the main cause of mortality beyond 85 years old is heart disease, but there is a lower prevalence of that in northern and central Spain, perhaps because of the famous "Mediterranean diet" high in fish, vegetables and olive oil.

Meanwhile the main factor affecting the south of Spain and other regions in southern Europe, such as Italy and Portugal, is that the regions are economically not as well off as their northern neighbors. Endit