WUNRN
JAPAN
- WOMEN HOLD RECORD FOR WORLD'S LONGEST LIFE SPAN
26
July 2010
Source:
Reuters
TOKYO,
July 26 (Reuters Life!) - Japanese women have held the record for the world's
longest life expectancy for 25 years in a row, with an average life span of
86.44 years as of 2009, the government said on Monday, as the country struggles
to cope with rising welfare costs in a rapidly ageing society.
Life
expectancy in Japan rose for the fourth straight year in 2009. Japanese men, on
average, had a life expectancy of 79.59 years, the fifth longest in the world,
data by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare showed.
Improvements
in the treatment of cardiac disorders, strokes and cancer -- three main causes
of death in Japan -- have helped prolong Japan's life expectancy, the ministry
said.
The
gap between male and female life expectancy slightly widened last year from
2008.
"One
of the reasons for that is more, especially young men, commited suicide
compared with 2008," a ministry official, who declined to be named, said.
"Men
are more exposed to the realities of society and have more things to worry
about, particularly at work," the official added.
In
2009, more than 70 percent of 32,845 people who committed suicides were men,
according to the National Police Agency.
Japan
is one of the world's fastest ageing societies. (Reporting by Antoni
Slodkowski, editing by Miral Fahmy)
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