[2020 Women's Lives] Female Healthy Life Expectancy 64.9 Years... Declining Due to Smoking and Drinking Trends

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] As the number of women who smoke and enjoy drinking increases, their healthy life expectancy is also on the decline.

According to the "2020 Women's Life in Statistics" report released on the 2nd by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and Statistics Korea, the healthy life expectancy of girls born in 2018 was projected to be 64.7 years. This represents a decrease of 0.3 years compared to 2016 and 1.6 years compared to 2012.

In 2018, the smoking rate among women was 7.5%, and the high-risk drinking rate was 8.4%, both increasing annually.

In particular, the proportion of women who drank alcohol at least once a month was 51.2%, an increase of 6.2 percentage points compared to 10 years ago (45.0%).

Women’s health management methods were surveyed in the order of regular health checkups, adequate sleep, breakfast, and regular exercise.

Among women aged 13 and older in 2018, 68.8% reported eating breakfast, and 77.4% reported getting adequate sleep. These figures represent decreases of 8.4 percentage points and 2.7 percentage points, respectively, compared to 10 years ago.

Among the major chronic diseases in 2018, anemia prevalence was higher in women than men, while diabetes, obesity, and hypertension were higher in men than women.

Meanwhile, the life expectancy of women born in 2018 was 85.7 years.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.