Healthy life span at 72.14 years for men, 74.79 for women

March 9, 2018

Tokyo- The healthy life expectancy is put at 72.14 years for Japanese men in 2016, up 0.95 year from 2013, and 74.79 years for women, up 0.58 year, the health ministry said Friday.

By prefecture, Yamanashi ranked top in healthy life expectancy for men at 73.21 years, staying in the top spot it took in the previous survey in 2013. For women, Aichi posted the longest health span of 76.32 years.

In 2016, the average life expectancy for Japanese men stood at 80.98 years, and that for women at 87.14 years. The expected lifetime after healthy years was shortened by 0.18 year for men and 0.05 year for women.

The prefecture with the second-longest healthy lifespan for men was Saitama, at 73.10 years. For women, Mie ranked second at 76.30 years.

The lowest position was held by Akita at 71.21 years in the men's rankings and Hiroshima at 73.62 years for women. The survey did not cover Kumamoto, due to huge earthquakes in the southwestern prefecture in 2016.

The ministry estimates the country's health span every three years. The latest survey is the third of its kind following the ones in 2010 and 2013.

The 2016 results are based on data in the ministry's latest Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions, which covered some 710,000 people in 289,470 households. The healthy life span was estimated by analyzing answers to questions including one asking whether respondents have any health problems in their daily life.

The average of the three health span surveys puts Yamanashi at the top of the list both for men, at 72.31 years, and women, at 75.49 years. Aichi came second in men's rankings, followed by Shizuoka, while for women, Shizuoka was second and Aichi third.

Yamanashi, Shizuoka and Aichi, all of which are in central Japan, are working hard to raise public awareness of health. The share of people who take cancer screenings is also high in the prefectures.

These may have led to their good performance, ministry officials said.

In its long-term plan from fiscal 2013, the ministry aims to get the country's healthy life expectancy to improve faster than the average lifespan and narrow the gap in health spans among prefectures.

The ministry believes that the 2016 survey shows an overall increase in the nation's health span and a reduction in the gap. Jiji Press