arirangnews2014.5.15---WHO:韓國平均壽命向上

arirangnews2014.5.15---WHO:韓國平均壽命向上
發佈日期：2014年5月15日 The life spans of people around the world are increasingly going up,... thanks largely to developments in modern medicine.
According to the latest World Health Organization figures on life expectancy,... Korean *women are now expected to live to the age of 84... ranking 8th in the world. Kim Min-ji has the details. People around the world are living longer,... with the average global life expectancy rising about six years over the last two decades. According to an annual report by the World Health Organization,... girls born in the year 2012 can expect to live to the age of 73,... and boys to 68.
South Korea saw the largest rise in life expectancy among high-income nations. The average for Korean women was 84-point-6 years,... and for men, it came to 78 years. This is up nine and 10 years respectively from 1990.
As for North Korea, the life expectancy over the same period remained unchanged at 73 for women,... and 66 for men.
By gender, Japan had the highest life expectancy among women at 87 years,... followed by Spain, Switzerland and Singapore. Korea came in eighth on the list.
As for men, Iceland came out on top with a life expectancy of 81 years,... trailed by Switzerland and Australia. Korean men failed to crack the top 10.
On the other end of the spectrum,... nations in sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest life expectancy in the world. The figure stands below 55 years in nine countries.
Margaret Chan,... the director-general of the WHO attributed the rise in global life expectancy to fewer deaths of children under the age of five. However, she pointed out that there is still a major divide between rich and poor... and that people in high-income countries have a much better chance of living longer.
The report also urges nations to tackle the problem of childhood obesity. It says that some 6-point-7 percent of children under the age of five worldwide were overweight.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.