Life expectancy passes 90 for Korean women, men close gap

Korean women on average lived to the age of 90.7 while men lived to 86.3, according to the Korea Insurance Development Institute (KIDI)’s experience mortality table released Sunday.[SHUTTERSTOCK]

The life expectancy for Korean women has surpassed 90 years of age for the first time while men’s also rose, decreasing the gap between the two genders compared to figures recorded in a regular survey last made five years ago.

Korean women on average lived to the age of 90.7 while men lived to 86.3, according to the Korea Insurance Development Institute (KIDI)’s experience mortality table released Sunday. This is an increase of 2.8 and 2.2 years for the two genders, respectively, compared to data from the table of figures made in 2019.

The average life span, which is the same as life expectancy, refers to the average number of years that members of a population are expected to live.

The state-run KIDI’s regular table uses data on the deaths of life insurance holders to record the death rates by age and gender. It is used alongside Statistic Korea’s population mortality table as the country’s health and mortality indicators.

Insurance companies can also use the experience mortality table when they have insufficient statistics while developing an insurance product. The table is also used to calculate the insurance price index, which is disclosed for the purpose of comparing insurance prices for insurance consumers.

The life expectancy rates recorded in KIDI’s experience mortality table is higher than in the population mortality table published in 2022, which showed Korean women’s average life span to be 85.6 years and men’s to be 79.9.

The table showed that the remaining life expectancy for people at 65 was 23.7 years for men and 27.1 years for women. This is an increase of 2.3 and 1.9 years, respectively, compared to five years ago.

It further showed that the rate of increase in life expectancy has slowed compared to the past, and that the difference in life expectancy between men and women has gradually decreased.

The gap between the two genders’ average life spans reduced compared to 2019 data. The KIDI’s table then showed that men on average lived to 83.5 years of age while women lived five more years to 88.5. The gap shown in the recent amendment is 4.4 years. The KIDI said this is a result of “the mortality rate for older men decreasing by a lot in relation [to older women’s].”

“We analyze the rise in life expectancy to have resulted from the advancement of medical technology and higher living standards, which raised the mortality rates,” the KIDI said.

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE, KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]