Israelis Healthier Than 181 Countries

Life’s hard in Israel, but new data confirms that Israel is among world leaders in length of life. A new study, which includes data for 188 countries, puts Israel very high on the rankings for healthy life expectancy. The report also shows that even though most people around the world are living longer, they’re also much sicker. The findings were published in the latest issue of prestigious medical journal Lancet.

The study’s main findings show that overall life expectancy for both sexes has risen 6.2 years, from 65.3 years in 1990, to 71.5 years in 2013. However, life expectancy did not significantly rise in countries such as Syria, Belize, and Botswana. In several other countries, these figures even dropped. For instance, in Lesotho (in southern Africa) and Swaziland, life expectancy in 2013 was10 years shorter than 20 years before.

In the current study, researchers made a calculation they nicknamed “Healthy Life Expectancy,” which takes into account not just mortality rates, but also years of life without terminal disease. This calculation gives an indication of a person’s number of healthy years. The longest healthy life expectancy was registered in Japan—73.4 years on average. The lowest was in Lesotho—42 years. Israel is sixth from the top, averaged for both sexes.