SEOUL: Babies born in South Korea final yr are anticipated to reside 82.7 years, down from 83.6 years in 2021, the statistics company stated on Friday (Dec 1), after life expectancy fell in 2022 for the primary time since 1970, hit by a spike in deaths linked to COVID-19.
Following a worldwide development of such declines over the previous few years, the OECD grouping stated final month that common life expectancy had dipped 0.7 years throughout its 39 member nations between 2019 and 2021.
COVID-19 brought about 7 per cent of all deaths in 2021, and life expectancy stays under pre-pandemic ranges in 28 nations, it added.
Although South Korea’s life expectancy nonetheless ranks among the many world’s highest after sharp enhancements in latest a long time, it additionally suffered from COVID-19.
“The number of COVID deaths increased sharply in 2022 and they ranked third among the causes of death,” Lim Young-il, an official of the company, Statistics Korea, informed a briefing.
In the absence of the coronavirus, life expectancy would have elevated by 0.1 yr fairly than having fallen 0.9 years, Lim added. South Korea started monitoring the info in 1970.
Neighbouring Japan has additionally seen its life expectancy fall for 2 consecutive years, with the pandemic chopping lifespans by 0.62 years for ladies and 0.51 years for males over the 2 years, to face at 87.09 years and 81.05, respectively.
However, life expectancy figures have recovered in some nations, such because the United States, the place they rose by roughly a yr in 2022 after two straight years of decline.
South Korea managed to rein in COVID-19 deaths initially of the pandemic earlier than a pointy uptick in 2022, when the statistics company recorded greater than 370,000 deaths from the coronavirus.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/covid-19-shrinks-life-expectancy-south-korea-first-time-1970-3958891
