Average life expectancy in Taiwan climbed to 81.3 years last year, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday.
The data indicate the nation’s upward trend has continued since the ministry posted an average life expectancy of 79.1 years in 2010.
Ministry officials attributed the trend to Taiwan’s high-quality healthcare, an increased focus on food safety, improved living conditions and that Taiwanese of all ages engage in physical activities.
The ministry found that men’s average life expectancy was 78.1 years, while women on average lived to 84.7 years.
Both numbers are the highest on record, the ministry added.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread worldwide last year, the nation swiftly imposed strict border controls and measures to curb the spread of the virus within Taiwan, the ministry said.
Taiwanese quickly adapted to a new pandemic prevention lifestyle, which contributed to fewer deaths being recorded last year compared with previous years, it said.
Taiwan recorded 173,162 deaths last year, the data showed.
Among the six special municipalities, Taipei had the highest life expectancy at 84.1 years, followed by New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung and Tainan.
Counties in eastern Taiwan have lower life expectancies, with residents of Taitung on average living 4.8 years less than the national average, the data showed.
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS