Koreans Can Expect 70.3 Years of Healthy Life

Published on 2013/06/23 | Source

Koreans are expected to live until the age of 79.7 years on average, but the actual healthy lifespan is about 70.3 years, according to a study. Koreans generally suffer from ill health or disability for some 9.4 years during their lifetime.

A research team led by Christopher Murray at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation studied the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) of 187 countries with over 500 researchers around the world.

DALY is a measure of overall disease burden calculated based on the number of years lost due to ill health, disability or early death.

Unhealthy eating habits were cited as the biggest factor contributing to the 9.4 DALY for Koreans. Excessive intake of salt, binge eating and overeating were found to reduce life expectancy by 13.4 months. The second biggest factor was drinking and smoking.