China will overtake the U.S. in healthier lifespan at birth for the first time, according to World Health Organization (WHO).
The lifespan of Chinese babies can reach 68.7 years, beating their American peers of 68.5 years, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing WHO data. The predication is made based on data from 2016.
Singaporean newborns are expected to enjoy the longest lifespan of 76.2 years, followed by those coming from Japan, Spain and Switzerland.
“The lost years of good health that are a factor in calculating healthy life expectancy at birth are lower for China, Japan, Korea and some other high income Asian countries than for high income ‘Western’ countries,” said WHO spokeswoman Alison Clements-Hunt.
Along with the U.S., Somalia, Afghanistan, Georgia as well as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are among the five countries where healthy life expectancy at birth fell in 2016.
The average lifespan of Chinese babies will also surpass their American peers in 2027, according to the WHO data. However, American babies can enjoy a lifespan of 78.5 years, longer than Chinese’s 76.4 years.
The report has sent waves on Chinese social media, with many pointing out that there’s an urban-rural gap in lifespan in China.
“While city residents have to bear pollution including smog, they enjoy a longer lifespan after all,” a netizen commented on Guanchazhe.cn under the screen name Kele.
“That’s because the environmental problems are more serious in rural areas than big cities,” said another netizen with the screenname Pijitailai. “And the medical resources in the villages are limited.”
The average lifespan of people in eastern China, where people are relatively wealthy due to the developed economy, had surpassed 78 years in 2010, according to an official report published in 2015. However, in remote regions including Yunan Province, Qinghai Province and Tibet Autonomous Region, the average lifespan of people is less than 70 years.
China launched a new five year road-map for reform of its healthcare sector in 2015. The reform targets three main areas: infrastructure development, reduction of costs and new investment, in order to relieve the sector being burdened by resource shortages and underdevelopment in rural areas.
