Korean Life Expectancy 83.3 Years... Highest Suicide Mortality Rate and Outpatient Visits in OECD

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The life expectancy of Koreans was found to be 83.3 years, which is 2.3 years longer than the average of 81.0 years among OECD countries. On the other hand, the suicide mortality rate in our country was the highest among OECD countries.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 19th the results of an analysis of the levels and status among member countries by major indicators in the OECD's 'Health Statistics 2021,' published last July.

As of 2019, the life expectancy of Korean citizens was 83.3 years, 2.3 years longer than the OECD average, and 1.1 years shorter than Japan (84.4 years), which had the longest life expectancy. Life expectancy refers to the expected number of years a newborn in that year is expected to live, and Korea's life expectancy increased by 3.3 years compared to 10 years ago. By gender, the life expectancy of men was 80.3 years, surpassing 80 years, and women’s was 86.3 years.

In 2018, Korea's avoidable mortality rate was 144.0 per 100,000 population, lower than the OECD average of 199.7. Avoidable mortality rate refers to deaths that can be prevented through disease prevention activities (preventable deaths) and deaths that can be avoided by timely provision of treatment services (treatable deaths).

The suicide mortality rate was the highest among OECD countries. In 2018, Korea's suicide mortality rate was 24.7 per 100,000 population, more than double the OECD average of 11.0. By gender, the rate was 37.6 per 100,000 for men and 13.7 per 100,000 for women, both more than twice the OECD average. The domestic suicide mortality rate decreased from 33.8 per 100,000 in 2009 to 23.0 in 2017 but slightly increased to 24.7 in 2018.

The infant mortality rate was 2.7 per 1,000 live births, 1.5 lower than the OECD average of 4.2.

Looking at health risk factors, the proportion of people aged 15 and over who smoke daily (smoking rate) in 2019 was 16.4%, similar to the OECD average of 16.4%.

The annual per capita alcohol consumption for those aged 15 and over, measured in pure alcohol, was 8.3 liters, less than the OECD average of 8.8 liters.

The proportion of people aged 15 and over who are overweight or obese was 33.7%, the second lowest after Japan (27.2%). However, the proportion of overweight and obese people gradually increased from 30.5% in 2009 to 30.8% in 2014 and 33.7% in 2019.

Regarding healthcare resources, compared to OECD countries, Korea had fewer human resources such as clinical doctors and nursing staff (nurses and nursing assistants), but more physical resources such as hospital beds and medical equipment (MRI and CT scanners).

The number of clinical doctors and medical graduates is the third lowest among OECD countries

The number of clinical doctors (including Korean medicine doctors) was 2.5 per 1,000 population, the third lowest among OECD countries after Poland and Mexico. Countries with many clinical doctors per 1,000 population include Austria (5.3) and Norway (5.0).

The number of medical graduates (including Korean medicine, excluding dentistry) was 7.4 per 100,000 population, the third lowest among OECD countries after Japan (7.1) and Israel (7.2).

The number of nursing staff was 7.9 per 1,000 population, 1.5 fewer than the OECD average of 9.4, and among the total nursing staff, the number of nurses was 4.2 per 1,000 population, less than the OECD average of 7.9.

The number of hospital beds was 12.4 per 1,000 population, the second highest after Japan (12.8), about 2.8 times the OECD average of 4.4.

The number of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines per 1 million population was 32.0, and computed tomography (CT) scanners were 39.6, both higher than the OECD average.

The average number of outpatient visits per person to a doctor in Korea was 17.2 times per year, the highest among OECD countries. This is 2.5 times higher than the OECD average of 6.8 visits.

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