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Wellness
Opinion

Hongkongers are living longer now, but are we living better?

Paul Yip says that if Hongkongers want to be healthier for longer, we need to address suicide, quality of care and work-life balance

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An elderly man does sit-ups in a park. Hong Kong’s life expectancy has increased faster than the global average but room for improvement remains, especially in quality of life. Photo: Alamy
Paul Yip
As a new year beckons, we often exchange wishes for a longer, healthier and happier life. In Hong Kong, we are certainly living longer, but are we healthier and happier too? Life expectancies in the city has increased from 67 in 1960 to 84.3 in 2016. The improvement, at 3.15 years per decade, means Hong Kong outperformed the global average, which rose at a rate of 2.5 years per decade.
By contrast, the United States saw a reduction in its life expectancy from 78.9 in 2014 to 78.8 in 2015, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the World Bank, the US spent more than 17 per cent of its gross domestic product on its health care expenditure in 2015, whereas Hong Kong spent only about 5.7 per cent. The global health expenditure is about 9.89 per cent. Thus Hong Kong has achieved outstanding health performance on a limited budget.
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Mainland China achieved a life expectancy of 76.5 years in 2016, despite unfavourable environmental conditions.

According to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the US has seen a significant reduction in the seven leading causes of death, including heart disease, neoplasm, etc. However, injury and suicide deaths are on the rise. These deaths usually occur relatively young and have a relatively large impact on life expectancy.

Americans are dying younger than people in other rich nations

Population behaviour matters. Some basic elements, like regular exercise and a healthy diet have been neglected, especially among those from the lower socio-economic groups. It doesn’t matter if heart bypass surgery can be performed miraculously, it is the obesity in the population and lack of exercise that kills.

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