The aims of this paper are to estimate, for the first time for Greece, life expectancy at birth by gender at local authority level and to explore spatial patterns. The data used in the analysis come from the vital registration system of Greece and the 2001 population census. For areas with male/female population 5,000 or more, representing 97% of the total, abridged life tables are constructed by employing the Chiang methodology. For local areas of less than 5,000, estimates of expectation of life at birth are obtained by employing regression models. Standard errors of life expectancy are estimated using the Chiang approximation as well as the Scherbov–Ediev reference tables. The results are presented in thematic as well as cluster maps; the latter are based on local Moran's I spatial autocorrelation statistics. Local populations are ranked by level of deprivation in three groups, low, medium, and high, and differences in mean life expectancies are assessed. The findings indicate that across localities, life expectancy ranges from 70.7 to 79.6 for men (8.9‐year difference) and from 76.1 to 82.5 for women (6.4‐year difference). More deprived areas exhibit lower life expectancy but greater sex difference. Comparatively high life expectancy is found in Crete, the Aegean and Ionian Islands, the Peloponnese, Central‐Western Greece and in Athens and Thessaloniki metropolitan areas; conditions are unfavourable in North‐Eastern Greece (particularly Thrace). Life expectancy standard errors, based on the two aforementioned procedures, are close, but Chiang approximation tends to underestimate to some extend standard errors particularly for populations 5,000–10,000. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.