Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday.
The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement.
For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year.
Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year.
The metric then fell to 80.86 in 2021 before bottoming out at 79.84 in 2022, a level not seen since 2014, before rebounding to 80.23 in 2023 when the pandemic eased.
Life expectancy for both men and women peaked in 2020, at 78.11 years and 84.75 years, respectively.
When compared with the global average life expectancy published by the UN, Taiwan’s average life expectancy for men and women was 6.7 years and 8.3 years higher respectively.
The country’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than that of China, Malaysia and Indonesia, the ministry said.
The 6.88-year difference in life expectancy between men and women in Taiwan was also relatively high, exceeding a six-year difference in Japan, 5.8-year difference in South Korea, 4.4-year difference in Singapore, and four-year difference in Australia.
Taipei had the highest average life expectancy in Taiwan last year at 83.40 years, followed by Hsinchu City (81.52 years), New Taipei City (80.97 years), Chiayi City (80.67 years) and Taoyuan (80.65 years), ministry data showed.
In terms of Taiwan’s six special municipalities, all except Taoyuan saw their average life expectancy rise last year.
The eastern county of Taitung had the lowest life expectancy of any of Taiwan’s 22 administrative regions at 75.97 years.
Total deaths in Taiwan last year fell to 201,313, down 3,889 from the previous year. Among them, 152,593 people were aged 65 or older, accounting for 75.8 percent of all deaths, ministry data showed.
Taiwan’s crude death rate last year was 8.60 per 1,000 people, down 0.19 points from 2023, the ministry said, adding that the standardized mortality rate — a life expectancy metric that adjusts for age distribution — was 410.27 per 100,000 people, a 4.49 percent decrease from the previous year.
Average life expectancy is an important statistical indicator for assessing a nation’s basic health, overall socioeconomic well-being, and competitiveness, the ministry said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS