Poles live on average six years longer than 20 years ago, according to data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS).

Men now live up to 72.4 years and women 80.9. That's 6.5 years and 5.8 years, respectively, longer than in 1991. Life expectancy varies according to regions, with residents of the eastern Podkarpackie voivodship, one of the poorest regions in the country, living longer than their fellow countrymen and women.

Men living in Podkarpackie live on average 74.1 years, and women 82 years. That's 3.7 years and 2.5 years longer, respectively, than men and women living in the Łódzkie voivodship, where the average lifespan is the shortest across the nation.

Residents of the Małopolskie voivodship, where the GDP per capita is also also below the national average, also live longer than the national average.

Polish life expectancy still lags behind many other European nations however, with men in Switzerland and Iceland, for example, living almost 8 years longer than Polish men, and women in these two countries living almost 5 years longer than their Polish counterparts, reports Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

Poland A.M.