German life expectancy reaches new high in 2025, federal statistics show

National record

Life expectancy at birth in Germany climbed to new highs in 2025, according to figures released by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden. Girls born in 2025 can expect to live 83.6 years on average, while boys can expect 79.1 years. Compared with 2022, the statistical life expectancy for women rose by around nine months and for men by almost 13 months. The increase reflects a recovery from the elevated mortality seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the high-death year 2022 drops out of the three-year calculation window used for state-level data.

Regional disparities

Baden-Württemberg again recorded the highest life expectancy among German states in the 2023–2025 period, with 84.4 years for newborn girls and 80.3 years for boys. Bavaria also posted record figures: women 84 years, men 79.7 years. At the other end, Saxony-Anhalt had the lowest life expectancy for men at 76.4 years, while Saarland had the lowest for women at 82 years. Within Bavaria, life expectancy for boys varied by up to 2.3 years across administrative districts, with Upper Bavaria and Swabia above the state average and the remaining districts below it.

Gender gap narrowing

The difference in life expectancy between women and men continues to shrink. In Saxony-Anhalt, the gap now stands at 4 years and 7 months, down from 5 years and 7 months two decades ago. Nationally, the 2025 figures show women outliving men by 4.5 years, a margin that has narrowed as male life expectancy gains outpaced female gains in the latest period.

Pension debate

The new data arrives amid an ongoing debate over the future of Germany’s statutory pension system. The government’s pension commission has proposed linking the retirement age to rising life expectancy: each additional year of life expectancy would translate into eight months of extra working life and four months of additional pension receipt. In Saxony-Anhalt, around 36,000 people born in 1965 would be the first cohort affected by any such increase. Currently, 60-year-old men in the state have a statistical further 20 years and 5 months to live, and women of the same age another 25 years.

Outlook and methodology

Statisticians project further gains in the coming decades. By 2070, life expectancy for women could exceed 90 years and for men surpass 86 years, according to the Federal Statistical Office. However, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research note that the pace of increase has slowed compared with the early 20th century, when rapid declines in child mortality drove large gains. The official life tables are based on mortality and population data pooled over three-year periods to smooth out random fluctuations from events such as influenza waves or the pandemic.