By Yoon Ja-young
The life expectancy of babies born last year was 81.9 years, the highest ever. The life expectancy gap between men and women fell to 6.5 years as males have come to take better care of their health.
Statistics Korea said Wednesday that the life expectancy of babies born in 2013 was 81.9, which is 0.5 year more than 2012 and 20 years longer than in 1970.
Baby boys can expect to live 78.5 years, and baby girls 85.1 years.
Korean males’ life expectancy is one year longer than the OECD average, while females can expect to live 2.2 years longer.
Among the OECD countries, Iceland has the longest life expectancy of males ― 81.6 years. Japan has the longest life expectancy of females ― 86.4 years.
The life expectancy gap is decreasing between men and women.
Baby girls born in 2013 can expect to live 6.5 years longer than baby boys. The gap has been narrowing since 1985 when it was 8.4 years.
“Unlike in the past, males have started taking good care of their health. It is helping to narrow the life expectancy gap,” explained the director of Statistics Korea’s vital statistics division, Yun Yeon-ok.
However, the gap is still wider than the OECD average ― females are expected to live 5.3 years longer than males.
Korean males who were 40 last year are expected to live on average 39.7 years more, while their female peers can expect to live 45.9 years. A 60-year-old male is expected to live 22 more years on average, while the figure is 27 years for women aged 60.
Cancer will be the number one cause of death, the statistics show.
The chance that a baby boy born last year will die of cancer in the future was 28.1 percent, with a 16.6 percent chance for baby girls.
Cerebrovascular disease was also a major cause of death, with the odds at 9.3 percent for males and 11.5 percent for females.
The chance of a male dying of cardiac disease is 9.1 percent, while a female has an 11.9 percent chance.