Photo/Illutration The health ministry building in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Average life expectancy in Japan has fallen for the first time in a decade, and deaths from COVID-19 are the primary culprit, figures show.

The last time a decrease occurred was 2011 when the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake hit, generating towering tsunami that claimed nearly 20,000 lives.

The latest data, which is for 2021 and released July 29 by the health ministry, showed that the average life expectancy for women was 87.57 years and 81.47 years for men.

Both figures were down from the previous year, when they marked an all-time high.

Life expectancy for women was down 0.14 year from the previous year, while the figure for men was 0.09 year.

Fatalities from traffic accidents, cancer and pneumonia also deceased in 2021. However, an increase in deaths from COVID-19 contributed to the lower longevity figures.

Deaths last year linked to COVID-19 totaled 16,771. The figure was 4.8 times higher than the previous year, when it hit 3,466.

For that reason, the life expectancy for women was 0.07 year shorter than the previous year’s figure, while that for men came to 0.1 year.

Even though life expectancy figures for both sexes decreased last year, they were still the second highest ever.

“It does not mean that the expansion of life expectancy has stopped,” a health ministry official said. “We do not think that a big trend has flipped,” suggesting the decrease was only temporary due to deaths from COVID-19.

Compared with Europe and the United States, where deaths from COVID-19 per head of population were much higher, the degree of decrease in life expectancy in Japan was small, the official added.

The average span of life for women in Japan is still the highest in the world, according to the ministry. It has been that way since 1985.

The average span of life for men in Japan ranks third in the world after Switzerland and Norway.

For people born in 2021, their likelihood of succumbing to either one of the three major causes of death--cancer, cardiac diseases and vascular brain diseases--was 43.52 percent for women and 48.9 percent for men.

Both figures marked impovements over the previous year due to progress in medical technology and heightened public awareness in reducing salt intake, among other things, the ministry said.

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