Hong Kong Life Expectancy Once Again Overtakes Japan and Tops the List

Hong Kong Life Expectancy Once Again Overtakes Japan and Tops the List
(Photo by Fotolia)
8/4/2016
Updated:
8/4/2016

Japan’s latest survey shows that Hong Kong becomes the “Capital of Longevity”, overtaking Japan in life expectancy once again after three years.

Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) released the 2015 global average life expectancy data on 27 July, which saw the average life expectancy for Hong Kong men is 81.24 years and Hong Kong women expect to live 87.32 years.

While both Hong Kong women and men have the longest life expectancy in the world, the gap between women and men is shown as 6.08 years.

The average life expectancy for Japanese women is 87.05 years, falling from the top spot in the previous year to the second place.

Japan men also saw their average life expectancy, 80.79 years, dropped one notch down to fourth from the previous year.

From 1985 to 2010, Japanese women topped the world life expectancy list for 26 consecutive years. However, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake knocked them off the top spot for life expectancy while Hong Kong women took the crown. In 2012, Japanese women returned to the first place for three consecutive years until they were surpassed by their Hong Kong counterparts in 2015.

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