【By Lee Hsing-fang & Jonathan Chin】  

Taiwanese life expectancy declined last year when compared with historical data, according to Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics.

This year’s edition of the Cause of Death Data which uses data collated last year, said that the average Taiwanese life expectancy is 79.84 years, with the average for men at 76.72 and 83.19 for women.

The survey showed that for the first time in 10 years, women’s average life expectancy dipped by 0.17 percent of a year when compared with 2013, while men’s life expectancy dropped by 0.19 percent.

Life expectancy in this survey is defined as “life expectancy at birth,” a statistically derived value that correlates births and deaths registered that year.

Over the past decade, the statistical trend for life expectancy in Taiwan has been consistently increasing, with the exception of 2005 and 2011, years in which male life expectancy declined, a ministry official said.

Last year’s negative growth was true of both men and women, making the downward movement exceptional, the official said.

The life expectancy of Taiwanese men last year was close to that of American and German men, but was lower than other developed nations in Europe and North America, the official said.

Life expectancy for Taiwanese women is comparable with that of women in the UK and Germany and two years longer than that of US women, the official said.

Compared with neighboring Asian states, the nation’s life expectancy is higher than that of China, Malaysia and the Philippines, but less than that of Japan, South Korea and Singapore, the official said.

The survey indicated that 81 percent of men and 91 percent of women might expect to live longer than 65 years, while a majority of people would live longer than 80 and 85 years respectively.

[Taipei Times, 2015-10-18]