The coronavirus (covid-19) contracted 1.2 years life expectancy in Italy in 2020, and more than four years in the provinces hardest hit by the pandemic, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) announced on Monday.

In 2020, the spread of the pandemic of covid-19 and the strong increase in the risk of mortality that was derived from it abruptly interrupted the growth in life expectancy at birth that characterized the trend until 2019, which led to a contraction of 1.2 years compared to the previous year”, the agency indicated in a statement.

In 2020, life expectancy at birth was 82 years: 79.7 years for men and 84.4 years for women, compared to 81 and 85.3 years in 2019.

The differences are more significant depending on the regions. In the north, in the provinces of Bergamo and Cremona, the worst hit in terms of mortality, men lost 4.3 and 4.5 years of life expectancy; and women, 3.2 and 2.9 years.

In contrast, in the provinces of Foggia (south) and Enna (in Sicily), the figures fell less: 1.7 and 1.5 years respectively.

The pandemic caused 129,515 deaths in Italy, half of them in the northern regions (Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria, Umbria and Veneto), where precisely only 36% of the 60 million Italians reside.

Italy was the first country in Europe hit by the virus, in February 2020, and Lombardy became for a time the epicenter of the global pandemic.

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