SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - South Koreans born last year are expected to live up to 83.7 years on average, outpacing the OECD average, according to the 2024 Life Table released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics on Wednesday.
Life expectancy for men reached 80.8 years and for women 86.6 years, each up 0.2 years from the previous year. The gender gap has continued to narrow since peaking in 1985, now standing at 5.8 years.
For those already aged 60, men are expected to live another 23.7 years and women 28.4 years, marking increases of 0.3 years and 0.2 years, respectively. South Korean men now live 2.3 years longer than the OECD male average of 78.5 years, while Korean women exceed the OECD female average by 2.9 years.
Cancer continues to be the leading cause of deaths in Korea, accounting for 19.5% of lifetime mortality risk, followed by pneumonia (10.2%), heart disease (10.0%), and cerebrovascular disease (6.9%).
The likelihood of dying from cancer and pneumonia has increased, while COVID-19 mortality has declined sharply. Over the past decade, pneumonia has shown the steepest rise in death rates for both men and women.
As people age, the risk of dying from pneumonia, heart disease, sepsis, and Alzheimer’s disease rises, whereas risks from suicide and accidents fall. Removing cancer from the mortality profile would extend life expectancy by 3.3 years; eliminating heart disease would add 1.2 years, and removing pneumonia would add 1.0 year.
Healthy life expectancy — the number of years a newborn can expect to live without illness — stood at 65.5 years, while subjective healthy life expectancy was 73.8 years.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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