VILNIUS (AFP) -- Lithuanians are living longer but the 11-year gap in life expectancy between men and women is too large, the National Health Board said in an annual report.

"The positive change is that the average life expectancy is gradually increasing. Today it is at 72.1 years," the board's chairman Juozas Pundzius told parliament as he presented the report.

Average life expectancy in Lithuania was 71.9 at the end of 2004, and 71.3 in 1998, according to earlier national reports.

On the downside, Pundzius noted that women can expect to live 78 years, and men 67, making for the biggest life expectancy gender gap in the European Union, which Lithuania joined two years ago.

"This reflects the situation of the country. The more developed the country, the smaller the gap," Pundzius said.

Women accounted for 53.3 percent of the Lithuanian population, estimated at 3.4 million at the beginning of 2006.