Average life expectancy of Japanese hits another record high

TOKYO — The average life expectancy of Japanese people reached record highs of 87.32 years for women and 81.25 for men in 2018, an increase of about five years for both sexes over the course of the 30 years of the Heisei era, according to the health ministry.

The average lifespan of women inched up 0.05 years from the previous year, posting a record high for the sixth consecutive year. Meanwhile, the figure for men increased by 0.16 years from 2017, topping the record for the seventh consecutive year, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.

Average life expectancy is an estimate of how long babies under 12 months of age born in the same year are expected to live.

The average lifespan in 1989, the first year of the Heisei era, was 81.77 for women and 75.91 for men.

“Life expectancy may have grown due to a decline in death rates from cancer, heart disorders and other diseases due to advances in medical care, as well as people’s growing health consciousness,” the ministry stated.

Looking at the latest overseas statistics by country and region, Japanese women ranked second, and men the third — the same as the previous year.

Hong Kong topped the global ranking for both females and males at 87.56 and 82.17 respectively.