Life expectancy at birth is a general measure of a population’s health status and is often used to gauge the development of a country’s health. Life expectancy at birth continues to rise in Asia and the Pacific, averaging about 73.8 years in 2022 up from 68 years in 2000 (Figure 6.1). Since 2000, the largest increases in life expectancy were recorded for Cambodia (11.3 years), Korea DPR (12.8 years), Lao PDR (10.6 years) and Timor-Leste (10.5 years). This rapid growth is related to a number of factors, including rising living standards, better nutrition, water and sanitation, increased education and greater access to health services.
There is large cross-national variation in life expectancy across the region: life expectancy at birth is 80 years or more in most East Asian countries, while it is 70 years or less in some Southern and South-Eastern Asian countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Pakistan and Turkmenistan) as well as the island nations of Papua New Guinea and Fiji. On average, in the Asia/Pacific region, women outlive men by slightly more than five years. Women in Armenia, Georgia, Mongolia and Viet Nam outlive men by nine years or more, while the difference is less than two years in the Maldives. Women in Japan and Macau (China), have the highest life expectancy at birth at roughly 88 years compared to 82‑83 years for men.
Life expectancy at birth decreased on average across Asia/Pacific countries during the first two years of the COVID‑19 pandemic (Figure 6.2). In Armenia, Azerbaijan and India, life expectancy decreased by over 3 years between 2019 and 2021. In other countries, life expectancy increased slightly (e.g. Samoa and Tajikistan). The decrease in life expectancy across Asia/Pacific countries is largely attributable to an increase in mortality for people aged 60‑79 years old. (Mo, Feng and Gu, 2023[1]).
Higher national income, measured by GDP per capita, is generally associated with longer life expectancy at birth (Figure 6.3). However, the linkages between income and life expectancy are not always that strong. For example, Viet Nam has relatively low incomes per capita in the region at about USD 14 050 but has a relatively high life expectancy at 75 years on average. Average life expectancy is similar in Brunei Darussalam (76 years), but its GDP per capita of USD 82 893 is six times as high as in Viet Nam.
