Photo/Illutration The building housing the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Average life expectancy for both Japanese men and women fell for the second consecutive year in 2022, a health ministry survey showed.

The figure for women came to 87.09 years. For men, it was 81.05 years. Both marked declines from the previous year.

It is the second consecutive year for life expectancy to fall below the previous year’s level, according to the Abridged Life Tables released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on July 28.

In 2022, the average life expectancy for men fell 0.42 year from 2021 to 81.05 years. For women, the figure dropped 0.49 year to 87.09 years. The drops were primarily due to an increase in the number of deaths from COVID-19, a ministry official said.

The two consecutive years of decline were the first since the 2009-2011 period.

The pandemic shortened the lifespan for woman by 0.13 year. The figure for men was 0.12 year. The number of deaths related to COVID-19 reached 47,635 in 2022, a 2.8-fold increase from the previous year.

“We do not know the future status of infection, but over the long term, the overall trend of increasing life expectancy is likely to remain unchanged,” a health ministry official said.

According to the ministry, in comparison with average life expectancy in other countries (survey periods vary), Japan ranks first for women, and has remained so since 1985. Men ranked fourth.

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Top 5 countries in terms of life expectancy

Women

(1) Japan: 87.09

(2) South Korea: 86.6 

(3) Spain: 85.83 

(4) Australia: 85.41 

(5) Switzerland: 85.4 

Men

(1) Switzerland 81.6 

(2) Sweden 81.34 

(3) Australia 81.3

(4) Japan 81.05 

(5) Norway: 80.92 

(Source: Health ministry. Figures for Japan are as of 2022. Other survey periods are different.)

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