Seeking Long Life? Go to Iceland or Cyprus

Reuters

April 29, 2010 

World

Men in Iceland have the best shot at living into old age, while women in Cyprus do, according to a study published on Thursday in the Lancet medical journal.

In most places, men have twice the relative mortality rate of women, Dr. Christopher Murray of the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues found. Some highlights:

•  Iceland ranked No 1 for men in 2010, with 64.9 per 1,000 men likely to die before the age of 60.

•  Iceland ranked 10th for women, with 44.2 per 1,000 females expected to die between the ages of 15 and 60.

• Sweden ranked second in terms of male mortality risk; Malta ranked third, the Netherlands was fourth and Switzerland fifth.

• Australia came in sixth among men, with 75.6 men and 43.9 women per 1,000 men expected to die before 60.

• Britain ranked 19th among the 189 countries included, with 93 men per 1,000 risking an early death before age 60.

• Korea ranked 33rd, Libya 34th and Cuba 38th.

• The United States ranked 47th globally in terms of male death risk at 129.9 per 1,000 men and 77.5 per 1,000 for women. This put it below Algeria, at 46th place, and a little above Iraq in 53rd place.

• China ranked 61st, Mexico 64th and India 108th.

• Swaziland had the worst male mortality risk with 764 males out of every 1,000 men aged 15 or more likely to die before reaching 60. Women did a little better with a rate of 596 -- still over half the adult female population.

• Zambia was second-worst for men out of the 189 countries covered with a 733 per 1,000 chance that a man would die between the ages of 15 and 60. But it was the worst place for a woman, with 605 per 1,000 Zambian women risking premature death.

(Source: The Lancet; Dr. Christopher Murray, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle)

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