Life expectancy is a measure of the average time a person in a certain age group has left to live, assuming that the observed death rates for this and older age groups remain the same as in the current year.

Life expectancy is usually based on the calculated life expectancy of a newborn child born in the the current year and the average age they are expected to reach. The life expectancy of 65-year-olds is the expected number of years they have left to live.

The calculation is based on the number of days lived between two birthdays, which means that the period usually ranges between two calendar years, e.g. 1985-1986, 1986-87, etc.

As the Faroese population is relatively small, there is a high degree of fluctuation in the annual figures. To prevent these annual fluctuations from disturbing the overall picture, the LOWESS-method (LOcally WEighted Scatterplot Smoothing) is used to smooth out the numbers.

Figures from 1966 to 1985 are grouped into five-year averages compiled by Statistics Denmark and have not been smoothed and are only given for each sex.

Glossary:

• Index shows the year-to-year percentage change, with a base year set at 100. The difference between two years is measured in percentage points.
• EA refers to the euro area with a fixed area composition of the current 19 countries.
• EU (from June 2020) refers to EU27_2020, which is the European Union with a fixed area composition of the current 27 countries.

See also Deaths.