NIPPON



 

The average life expectancy for both Japanese men and women rose for the first time in three years in 2023, possibly reflecting a drop in fatality rates for COVID-19 patients, a health ministry survey showed Friday.

Men’s average life expectancy rose 0.04 year from 2022 to 81.09 years, while that of women was up 0.05 year to 87.14 years.

The ministry said that a decline in COVID-19-caused deaths likely helped boost the average life expectancy by 0.06 year for men and 0.04 year for women. The longer life expectancy may have also been due to a decrease in the number of cancer-related deaths.

The average life expectancy is the number of years a baby born in a given year is expected to live, based on the assumption that the death rate for each age group remains unchanged.

After continuing to rise almost every year since 1947, shortly after World War II, Japan’s average life expectancy fell for both men and women in 2021 and 2022, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.