Japan Women Longest Lived
Friday, September 3, 2010 at 9:55AMFor the 25th consecutive year statistics published by the Japanese government showed that women there had a longer life expectancy than any others on the planet. In 2009, Japanese women extended their average longevity to 86.44 years; Japanese men can expect to live 79.59 years, a pretty good showing but not as good as men in Qatar (81 years), Hong Kong (79.8), and Iceland and Switzerland (tied at 79.7). Women in Hong Kong came in second to Japanese women with a life expectancy of 86.1 years; French women were third at 84.5 and Swiss women fourth at 84.4 years. Japan's longevity is said to reflect good medical treatment that reduced death rates from cancer, heart disease and strokes as well as pneumonia. Japan's relatively healthy diet and high living standards also contribute to improving longevity among the population. In 2009, average life spans for women increased by almost five months and compared to nearly four months for men. While this is good news for the aging men and women, the downside is that Japan has a low birth rate and a declining population. The increasingly graying society may eventually strain government services and pension programs and lead to labor shortages.
The Japanese also tend to be happier than Americans, possibly due to their high fish consumption.
Reader Comments (7)
Given the recent "scandal" that at least 200 of Japan's oldest citizens are missing (a few confirmed dead, others haven't been seen for decades) just how much weight should we give to the overall old age statistic?
OK that makes a lot of sense dude.
www.real-privacy.ua.tc
And where was the US on this list?
Its quite amazing to hear this. If the whole world had women of this nature ooh it could have been a huge blessing
The Japan statistics really aren't to be trusted. In addition to missing centenarians (some of whom died years ago and their bodies were kept in backpacks and closets), there is recent news of other "missing" elderly people. The Japanese government does not have a system for tracking its citizens as the U.S. does (with Social Security numbers). I've lived in Japan for a little over 20 years, and it is very surprising what people can get away with because the government not only doesn't follow-up, but will look the other way. Besides all of the "missing" old people problems, you also have people who don't pay their government pension money or taxes and the government just lets them do whatever as long as they claim they don't have enough money. They don't verify income, mind you. All you have to do is tell someone you don't have the money and they'll just accept what you say and give up on collecting. You don't have to file your income tax returns either and can lie egregiously on them and there is no means of following up.
In essence, the Japanese government doesn't push beyond the surface, and these statistics could easily reflect a lot of inaccuracy.
This number is very suspect. The fact of the matter is that the Japanese government has no idea who is alive or dead. The citizens registry system is very complex and most people don't understand it. The are two main parts, the residence registration and the family records system. In some cases these records are held at the same office, in many cases they are not.
For example, if someone was born in rural Shikoku and moved to Tokyo their residence registration would be in Tokyo, but their family record would still be in their 'hometown' in countryside. When a person dies, the family has to report the death to both offices. However, it often happens that the family only reports the death to the city where the deceased resided thinking that is all they needed to do. Continuing our example, the deceased would be no longer listed as a resident of Tokyo, but back in Shikoku they would still be listed as alive.
The city governments are following up with people listed as being over 100, but a Japanese professor (I forgot his name) recently said on TV that if they were to follow up with people over the age of 75 there could be tens of thousands of citizens that are still listed as alive even though they aren't.
The Japanese would still have a life expectancy in the top five or so but they might not be number one anymore.
This is not good research. The link to longevity is blood sugar and it was proven by a filmmaker who reverses diabetes in many countries WITHOUT medication . This applies also to non diabetics, it is still about blood sugar just google SPIRIT HAPPY DIET