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Staff Reporter
Koreans' average life expectancy rose above 80 last year for the first time in history on the back of growing public interest in health and better medical technology.
According to Statistics Korea, Wednesday, the average life expectancy for Korean babies born in 2008 was 80.1 years, up half-a-year from 2007 and 5.3 years from a decade ago. It was the first time that the average life span breached the 80-year mark.
By gender, male life expectancy rose by 0.4 years to 76.5 years last year, compared with the average of 76.2 for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member economies. Korean female life expectancy also jumped by 0.6 years to 83.3, above the OECD average of 81.8.
"Koreans' life span has continued upward as people have benefitted from improvements in medical services and health care," said an official at the statistic agency.
The gap of the life expectancy between men and women widened to 6.7 years in 2008, up 0.1 from a year ago. The age difference had narrowed since 1985 when women were expected to live 8.4 years longer than males but the gap has barely changed over the past few years.
The 6.7-year difference is higher than the OECD average of 5.6, but lower than Poland's 8.8 and Hungary's 8.1 years.
A 45-year-old Korean man could expect to live 33.3 more years last year, and a 45-year-old woman an additional 39.6 years. Baby boys born last year had a 48.4 percent probability of living until they reach 80, while baby girls had a 71.9 percent chance.
In the meantime, cancer was the biggest threat for both Korean men and women. A total of 28.5 percent of males and 16.1 percent of females are expected to ultimately die of the disease.
The life span of Korean males would rise by 5.3 years if cancer deaths were taken out of the equation, while the expectancy among females would be boosted by 2.9 years without the disease, the agency said.
kjk@koreatimes.co.kr
