Healthier living and better healthcare ‘improving life expectancy worldwide’

Life expectancy rates are improving on a global basis due to people living healthier lifestyles and enjoying access to a better standard of care.

This is according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has indicated that all OECD countries have seen life expectancy at birth increase by more than ten years since 1970.

The OECD average now stands at 80.6 years, with the best-performing nations being Japan (83.9 years), Spain and Switzerland (both 83 years), while the lowest rates were seen in Latvia (74.6 years) and Mexico (75 years).

Healthier living, higher incomes and better education have all been cited as the main contributors to this trend, as well as better healthcare.

The report also highlighted a number of ways that life expectancy could be improved further, with estimates suggesting that if smoking rates and alcohol consumption were halved, life expectancies would rise by 13 months.

Additionally, the analysis showed that a ten percent increase in health spending per capita in real terms would bolster life expectancy by 3.5 months on average, although this would depend on the money being used efficiently.

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