S. Koreans' life expectancy at 83.3 years, 2 years longer than OECD average

 

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New data shows that life expectancy in South Korea has risen to 83-point-3 years.
That two years longer than the OECD average.
At the same time, Korea still has the OECD's highest suicide rate,... and after declining for a while, it's been rising again.
South Korean babies born in 2019 are expected to live over 83 years.
This is according to 'Health Statistics 2021' released by the OECD... an analysis based on each member states' data in 2019.
The data showed that the life expectancy of Koreans in 2019 stands at 83-point-3 years... about 2 years longer than the OECD average of 81 years.
This is up more than 3 years compared to a decade ago... when life expectancy in the country was 80 years.
The latest figure is just one year shorter than Japan's life expectancy of 84-point-2 years, which is the highest in the OECD.
By gender... Korean men were expected to live 80-point-3 years... while women were expected to live over 86 years.

As for health indicators... the country had the second-lowest obesity rate in the OECD.
33-point-7 percent of the population aged 15 or older were overweight or obese... but this figure has been rising in the country for the past decade.
And the percentage of South Koreans aged 15 or older who smoke every day has reached 16-point-4 percent... the same as the OECD average.
South Korea had the highest suicide rate in the OECD.
In 2018... 24-point-7 per 100-thousand people in the country died by suicide... more than double the OECD average of 11.
The rate had been declining since 2009... but the latest figure shows that it is increasing again.
Bae Eun-ji, Arirang News.