Men and women in Norway already could boast among the world’s longest life spans. Now it seems they’re living even longer than before.
Figures released last week by state statistics bureau SSB show that Norwegian women can now expect to live to be 83.1 years old, while Norwegian men have an average life expectancy of 78.6 years.
That’s higher than life expectancy for Danish and Finnish men by about two years, and Norwegian men also have narrowed the gap with Norwegian women, from 6.9 years to 4.5 years.
Researcher Helge Brunborg of SSB told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) that he and his colleagues don’t know for sure why Norwegian men are living longer than before, but said the numbers “support a general trend over the past 200 years that longevity has increased by about 0.2 years for every calendar year.”
Within Norway, men in the northernmost county of Finnmark have the shortest average life spans, possibly because they eat more meat than average Norwegians. Smoking and alcohol use can also play a role, according to researchers.
Japanese women continue to rank as those living the longest of anyone, with an average lifespan of 86.1 years.
Views and News staff
