Chen Chien-hsien (陳劍賢), an assistant professor in Meiho University’s Department of Social Work, argued in an article published in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) on Aug. 22 that Taitung County residents have a lower life expectancy than the national average due to low household incomes, which shows that income has “a strong positive correlation with average life expectancy.” Chen said that the key to resolving Taitung’s low life expectancy is to reinvigorate its sluggish economy. I take a different view.
For example, obesity and many chronic illnesses including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancers positively correlate with mortality risk.
However, one cannot infer from this that an obese person would be able to reduce their mortality risk by undergoing liposuction or taking a large quantity of weight loss pills.
Furthermore, it is easy to rebut the claim that a strong economy results in higher incomes. The IMF’s economic forecast for this year shows that average US GDP per capita is to be US$76,000, while the equivalent figure for Costa Rica is US$12,500 — nearly one-sixth that of the US.
However, based on WHO data on global life expectancy, US citizens on average live 77.8 years, which is lower than Costa Rica’s average life expectancy of 80.75 years.
The lesson to be drawn from this is that a booming economy only leads to increased life expectancies if the fruits of economic growth are distributed widely and equally. This would also be the case in Taitung.
The root cause of Taitung’s shorter-than-average life expectancy is excessive tobacco, alcohol and betel nut use, in addition to a lifestyle of overeating and under-exercising.
If the underlying causes are to be addressed, the government must invest more resources into public health and preventive medicine, and implement policies that promote public health educators and medical personnel to together invest in the county. This would cause Taitung residents to change their habits, including giving up tobacco, alcohol and betel nuts, eating less and exercising more. Taitung’s residents would then be able to enjoy longer, healthier lives in their beautiful county.
Liu Han-ting
Taitung County
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