Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Releases "2024 Abridged Life Table"
Average Life Expectancy for Men at 81.09 Years... Sixth Highest in the World
Japan, known as a representative longevity nation, recorded an average life expectancy last year of 87.13 years for women and 81.09 years for men. Japanese women have maintained the world’s top spot in life expectancy for 40 consecutive years.
On July 25, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released the "2024 Abridged Life Table." The abridged life table is an estimate based on age-specific mortality rates, estimated population, and monthly demographic statistics. According to this data, the average life expectancy in Japan last year was 87.13 years for women and 81.09 years for men. For women, this was a decrease of 0.01 years compared to 2023, while for men there was no change.
Women have held the number one spot globally for 40 consecutive years since the survey began in 1984. For men, Japan ranked sixth in the world, following Sweden (82.29 years), Switzerland (82.2 years), Norway (81.59 years), Italy (81.44 years), and Spain (81.11 years).
The life expectancy of Japanese people peaked in 2020 at 87.71 years for women and 81.56 years for men, but declined for two years due to an increase in deaths related to COVID-19 before rising again in 2023. Last year, mortality rates from diseases such as cancer and heart disease decreased in Japan, but mortality rates from old age and pneumonia increased. As a result, the overall average life expectancy showed almost no change.
The country with the second highest average life expectancy for women is Korea, where the average life expectancy for women was 86.4 years as of 2023. The gap with Japan, which holds the top spot, was 0.73 years. Spain ranked third at 86.34 years. The average life expectancy for Korean men was 80.6 years, which is 5.8 years shorter than that of women.
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