The life expectancy of babies born last year reached a record high of 83.7 years. However, the period expected to be lived in good health, without illness, averaged only 65.5 years. It is a case of ‘living long with illness’.

According to the ‘2024 Life Tables’ released by the National Data Office on the 3rd, the life expectancy of babies born last year was 83.7 years, up 0.2 years from one year earlier and 1.9 years from ten years earlier. Babies born last year are expected to live the longest among all birth cohorts since the life tables began to be compiled for those born in the 1970s. A life table is an estimate of how long a person of a given age could live if current age-specific mortality levels remain unchanged.

Life expectancy at birth has recovered to pre COVID-19 levels and continues to rise. It declined for the first time from 83.6 years in 2021 to 82.7 years in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then rose again to 83.5 years in 2023.

By sex, male babies born last year are expected to live 80.8 years and female babies 86.6 years, with both up 0.2 years from the previous year. The gap in life expectancy between men and women is 5.8 years and has been narrowing since peaking at 8.6 years in 1985.

Life expectancy has increased, but the healthy period has shortened. Healthy life expectancy, excluding years lived with disease, for babies born last year was 65.5 years, down 0.3 years from 2022. If a baby born last year lives to 83.7 years, only 65.5 of those years are expected to be in good health, meaning the remaining 18.2 years could be lived with illness.

Of the life expectancy for babies born last year, the period expected to be spent with illness or injury was 16.2 years for men and 20.2 years for women, longer for women. Excluding ill years, the period expected to be spent in good health was 64.6 years for men and 66.4 years for women, down 0.5 years for men and 0.2 years for women from two years earlier.

By cause of death, babies born last year face the highest probability of eventually dying from cancer at 19.5 percent, followed by pneumonia at 10.2 percent, heart disease at 10.0 percent, and cerebrovascular disease at 6.9 percent. Compared with one year earlier, the probabilities of death from causes such as cancer and pneumonia increased, while the probability of death from COVID-19 decreased. If cancer were eliminated, life expectancy for babies born last year would rise by 3.3 years; if heart disease were eliminated, by 1.2 years; and if pneumonia were eliminated, by 1 year.

Korea has a life expectancy of 80.8 years; compared with the average for member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (78.5 years), it is longer by 2.3 years for men and 2.9 years for women. Men who were age 60 last year are expected to live 23.7 more years, and women 28.4 more years. Compared with one year earlier, remaining life expectancy increased by 0.3 years for men and 0.2 years for women. For those who were age 40 last year, remaining life expectancy is 41.9 years for men and 47.4 years for women.