Japan continues its over 20-year run as the global champion of long life. The latest World Health Organization report puts Japan’s average life expectancy at birth at 83.7 years. Japanese women can expect to live to 86.8 years, longer than their menfolk, whose average life expectancy is 80.5 years. The secret of long life in Japan is a matter of some debate and likely stems from a mixture of diet, policy, exercise, cultural factors and genetics, making it difficult to single out one cause. Prolonging “healthy life expectancy” and figuring out how to pay the bill for it are both tough challenges.

Source: The Hindu May 27, 2017 15:31 UTC