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SINGAPORE — Singaporeans live longer than most other nationalities and they also do so in full health, according to the latest World Health Statistics report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The report, published on Wednesday (May 17), ranked the Republic third in the world for average life expectancy, behind Japan and Switzerland.
The average life expectancy in Singapore was 83.1 years. Japan, which has topped the rankings for close to three decades now, had an average life expectancy of 83.7 years, while Switzerland’s was 83.4 years.
Another statistic that the WHO report examined was healthy life expectancy, which refers to the number of years people live in full health. According to the report, Singapore was second in the world in this category at 73.9 years, behind Japan (74.9 years) and ahead of South Korea (73.2 years).
The report also found that women lived longer than men across the world. The global average was 69.1 years for men and 73.8 years for women. In Singapore, women could expect to live for 86.1 years (second in the world), while the average male expectancy was 80.1 years (10th).
The World Health Statistics report is one of WHO’s flagship publications, with data compiled from 194 countries. Other health indicators covered include mortality and disease rates, the availability of health services and treatments, the level of financial investment in health, and risk factors and behaviours that affect health.
Singapore ranked high on the report in many categories. For instance, the WHO found that Singapore’s gross domestic expenditure on research and development (R&D) in health and medical sciences as a percentage of gross domestic product was topped only by South Korea.
Singapore also jointly topped the world for proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel, and was first for lowest mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisoning.
The Republic was third globally for the lowest road traffic mortality rate, and took fourth positions for the lowest mortality rate attributed to air pollution, lowest mortality rate attributed to cardiovascular or chronic respiratory diseases, and lowest mortality rate attributed to unsafe water or lack of hygiene.
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-3rd-world-life-expectancy-who-report
