Mediterranean diet As the renowned medical journal Lancet points out, eating habits play a key role when it comes to Italians and longevity. A large part of the population can easily bring fresh and healthy food to the table, regardless of social status and income. This is what makes the difference.
There are two main explanations for Italy's aging population; a high life expectancy and a low birth rate. The result is that people live longer, alongside a declining number of births. Italy is among the countries with the highest life expectancy at birth worldwide.
Chart and table of Italy life expectancy from 1950 to 2023. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100. The current life expectancy for Italy in 2023 is 84.00 years, a 0.17% increase from 2022.
Reason 1: Italians Eat Fresh Food
The first reason Italians are so healthy is that they eat food that is fresh. It's been that way for generations. Unfortunately, supermarkets are now slowly taking over the small, family-run shops which primarily dominated the market in previous times.
On life expectancy we came 14th - slipping down two places since 1990. Italy, by contrast, rose from 5th to 2nd - ahead of France, Germany, and Sweden.
U.S. life expectancy at birth
On average, a person living in the U.S. can expect to live to 76.1 years. Asian people have the longest average life expectancy (83.5 years) and American Indian/Alaska Natives the shortest (65.2 years).
There are two main explanations for Italy's aging population; a high life expectancy and a low birth rate. The result is that people live longer, alongside a declining number of births. Indeed, Italy is among the countries with the highest life expectancy at birth worldwide.
Besides portion control, Italian culture plays a huge role in the success of the Mediterranean diet. Rarely do Italians eat on the go; meals are sit-down affairs that are — whether formal or informal — a social occasion. Food is often shared family-style, and sad desk lunches are unheard of.
Italy is the world's healthiest country, according to the CEOWORLD magazine ranking that uses data from the United Nations Population Division, the World Bank, the Lancet study, and the World Health Organisation, with Singapore coming at a close second.
A typical Italian diet consists of three meals in a day. The most common foods in the Italian diet include pasta, cheese, vegetables, olive oil, meats, and wine. Italians give a lot of importance to fresh ingredients.
In Italy, young people stay in their parents' homes until the age of 25-35.
Italy's median age is 46.8 against a global value of 30.3 years. Italy's data is highlighted in the table below, use the filter and sort order options to allow easy comparison with other countries.
As the renowned medical journal Lancet points out, eating habits play a key role when it comes to Italians and longevity. A large part of the population can easily bring fresh and healthy food to the table, regardless of social status and income. This is what makes the difference.
It also became obvious that the typical Italian diet is very different from what you see on an American Italian restaurant menu. Italians enjoy a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, beans, fish, poultry, olive oil, tomatoes, whole grains, dairy, red wine -- and they eat very little red meat.
The Mediterranean diet, also known as Med diet, is what many consider the gold standard when it comes to eating. This is because olive oil intake and plant-rich eating continue to be credited with improving health and reducing risk for many chronic diseases down the road.
Sarah Medland, approximately 17% of Italians have curly hair. Overall, 45% of European people have straight hair, 40% have wavy, and 15% have curly hair. Therefore, Italians are slightly above the European curly hair average. Italian genes have adapted to both the northern and southern climates of Italy.
Top 10 Healthiest Countries in the World (2021 Global Health Security Index): United States — 75.9. Australia — 71.1. Finland — 70.9.
The Mediterranean Diet has long been touted as one of the world's healthiest diets. It follows the eating habits of Greece and Southern Italy, and has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease and early death.
Madagascar had the WORST SCORE in terms of food quality. An average of 79% of people's consumption is derived from nutrient-poor cereals, roots and tubers, compared to a global average of 47%. It also tied with India in the THIRD WORST POSITION for undernourishment levels.
Most dinners consist of a salad, the primo (pasta or soup dish) and the secondo (meat or fish dish). The Italians also enjoy cooked vegetables like artichokes, eggplants, mushrooms, spinach and zucchini, which they either buy at the market or grow in their gardens.
Italians eat predominantly sweet things for breakfast. This can be quite a shock if you are used to having toast, eggs, and bacon first thing in the morning. Instead, the traditional breakfast in Italy relies almost exclusively on baked goods like biscuits, cookies, pastries, rusks, and cakes.
Pasta is easy and cheap to make, and many different sauces are born from just a handful of ingredients, like pasta carbonara or pasta amatriciana. With just a few ingredients, Italians can create an affordable and delicious meal that can provide nutritional value and sustenance. Diversity.
Still, from the 14th to 16th centuries, Italy experienced a Golden Age, known as the Renaissance, with wondrous feats of art and science, as well as intrigue and conflict.
"A major factor is the reduction and the ageing of the female population in the 15-49 age group conventionally considered reproductive," said the institute in its report. It added that fertility rate for Italian women went down to 1.24 from 1.25 in 2021 — with the central and northern region registering a decline.