Second place for Swiss in life expectancy study

The Swiss have one of the longest life expectancies in the world Keystone

Swiss women can expect to live to an impressive 85.1 years and Swiss men to 80.7, pipped by only Japanese women (87) and Icelandic men (81.2).

People everywhere are living longer, according to the World Health Statistics 2014, published on Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO). Based on global averages, a girl who was born in 2012 can expect to live to around 73 years and a boy to the age of 68. This is six years longer than the average global life expectancy for a child born in 1990.

WHO’s annual report shows that low-income countries have made the greatest progress, with an average increase in life expectancy of nine years from 1990 to 2012.

The top six countries where life expectancy increased the most were Liberia, which saw a 20-year increase (from 42 in 1990 to 62 in 2012), followed by Ethiopia (from 45 to 64), Maldives (58 to 77), Cambodia (54 to 72), Timor-Leste (50 to 66) and Rwanda (48 to 65).

“An important reason why global life expectancy has improved so much is that fewer children are dying before their fifth birthday,” said Margaret Chan, WHO director-general.

“But there is still a major rich-poor divide: people in high-income countries continue to have a much better chance of living longer than people in low-income countries.”

A boy born in 2012 in a high-income country can expect to live to around 76 – 16 years longer than a boy born in a low-income country. For girls, the difference is even wider: a gap of 19 years separates life expectancy in high-income (82 years) and low-income countries (63 years).

Tackling diseases

Wherever they live in the world, women live longer than men. The gap between male and female life expectancy is greater in high-income countries where women live around six years longer than men. In low-income countries, the difference is around three years.

Women in Japan have the longest life expectancy in the world at 87 years, followed by Switzerland, Spain and Singapore. Female life expectancy in all the top ten countries was 84 years or longer. Life expectancy among men is 80 years or more in nine countries, with the longest male life expectancy in Iceland, Switzerland and Australia.

“In high-income countries, much of the gain in life expectancy is due to success in tackling noncommunicable diseases,” said Ties Boerma, director of the department of health statistics and information systems at WHO.

“Fewer men and women are dying before they get to their 60th birthday from heart disease and strokes. Richer countries have become better at monitoring and managing high blood pressure for example.”

Declining tobacco use is also a key factor in helping people live longer in several countries.

At the other end of the scale, life expectancy for both men and women is still less than 55 years in nine sub-Saharan African countries: Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.