Average life expectancy for Danish people fell for the second year in a row in 2022, according to the calculation model devised by Denmark’s statutory pensions giant ATP, with the recent COVID-19 pandemic being one reason for the development.

ATP, for whose population-wide guaranteed pension scheme life expectancy is an important factor, this morning reported that the latest update of its life expectancy model had revealed a fall of two to three months for virtually all age groups.

Liselotte Milting, deputy director at ATP Pension, said: “2022 deviates from the norm, because it is the first time since 1995 that life expectancy here at home has been shortened for two years in a row.

“Among other things, COVID-19 is to blame for excess mortality in 2021 and 2022,” said Milting, who heads up the actuarial department at the Hillerød-based pension fund which develops the life expectancy model.

ATP updates its life expectancy model every year according to a model based on data from Denmark and 17 other comparable countries.

The manager of Denmark’s DKK687bn (€92.2bn) labour-market supplementary pension scheme said its longevity model had been reviewed and evaluated by auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) over the past year.

“PWC concludes that ATP’s longevity model ranks among the best models at the European level,” said Milting, adding that this meant ATP’s work in predicting longevity was professionally sound and provided reliable figures.

ATP did not say how the update would affect its financial figures, but as a result of the previous life expectancy update in 2022, ATP transferred DKK3.8bn to its bonus potential - funds included in the pension fund’s return-seeking investment portfolio.

However, over the last five years, ATP said in its 2022 annual report, that increased life expectancy had cost the scheme DKK7bn in total.

According to the new set of predictions, ATP said a girl in Denmark born in 2023 can look forward to reaching the age of 95, while boys are expected to live to 93 on average.

The figures also showed that Danish lives are approximately a year shorter than those for both Norwegians and Swedes - with this national difference applying both to women and men.

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Rachel is IPE's Nordic correspondent. She has long been a freelance writer, and over the years, has written for The Telegraph, The Independent, The Observer, AMWatch and elsewhere. In 2001, Rachel's personal finance book Kickstart Your Money was published by John Wiley & Sons.View full Profile

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