Average life expectancy in Taiwan climbed to 81.3 years last year, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday.
The data indicate the nation’s upward trend has continued since the ministry posted an average life expectancy of 79.1 years in 2010.
Ministry officials attributed the trend to Taiwan’s high-quality healthcare, an increased focus on food safety, improved living conditions and that Taiwanese of all ages engage in physical activities.
The ministry found that men’s average life expectancy was 78.1 years, while women on average lived to 84.7 years.
Both numbers are the highest on record, the ministry added.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread worldwide last year, the nation swiftly imposed strict border controls and measures to curb the spread of the virus within Taiwan, the ministry said.
Taiwanese quickly adapted to a new pandemic prevention lifestyle, which contributed to fewer deaths being recorded last year compared with previous years, it said.
Taiwan recorded 173,162 deaths last year, the data showed.
Among the six special municipalities, Taipei had the highest life expectancy at 84.1 years, followed by New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung and Tainan.
Counties in eastern Taiwan have lower life expectancies, with residents of Taitung on average living 4.8 years less than the national average, the data showed.
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as