Bulgaria's SE, NW Regions with Shortest Life Expectancy in EU

Residents of Bulgaria's Yugoiztochen (southeastern) region, followed by the country's Severdozapaden (northwestern) region, according to data of Eurostat. Photo by BGNES

Residents of Madrid and Navarre in Spain live longest in the EU, while the shortest life expectancy is registered in Bulgaria's Yugoiztochen (southeastern) region, followed by the country's Severdozapaden (northwestern) region, according to data of Eurostat for 2011, as cited by EU Observer.

Of the eight EU regions with the longest life expectancy, five are in Spain, although unemployment is highest there.

Number one on the unemployment list is Andalucia, with almost one in three out of a job, followed by much of the rest of Spain.

Spain, however, also tops the tourism charts, EU Observer notes.

The most popular tourist destinations are the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and Catalonia.

In 2011, the Canary Islands received almost double the amount of overnight stays than Ile-de-France, or the Paris metropolitan area, which was fifth in the ranking.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria's Severozapaden region finds itself once again at the bottom of the list.

In 2011, northwestern Bulgaria registered less overnight stays than in any other EU region on record.

Of the 270 so-called "Nuts 2" regions in the EU (one level lower than the Nuts 1 "major socio-economic regions"), inner London is not only the richest, it is also the most densely populated, with close to 10,000 people per square km.

According to Eurostat, people living in inner London have three times the average purchasing power in the EU(even though big differences exist within the city), while the population of the Bulgarian region of Severozapaden has little over a quarter of the average purchasing power of people elsewhere in the Union.

Brussels is the third richest region, preceded by Luxembourg, and has more than twice the average to spend.

Meanwhile, the EU capital is also the second most crowded, with almost 7,000 people living on one square km.

Over one in six people in Brussels do not have a job, putting the city-state at number 27 on the unemployment list.

The least populated EU regions are Iceland and the northernmost Swedish region of Upper Norrland, with little over three inhabitants per square km.

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