The gap between average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy | Goals of Health Japan 21 (third term)

There are two ways to measure lifespan: “average life expectancy,” which looks at how many years a person lives, and “healthy life expectancy,” which looks at the period a person can spend daily life without limitations.

The gap is around 10 years

According to materials from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the gap between average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in 2019 was 8.73 years for men and 12.06 years for women. This gap means a period during which daily life has some kind of limitation.

In addition, healthy life expectancy in 2022 was announced as 72.57 years for men and 75.45 years for women. While women have longer average life expectancy, the structure in which the gap is also larger continues.

The goal set by the government

Health Japan 21 (the third term), a national health promotion movement that began in fiscal 2024, placed this gap squarely among its goals.

• An increase in healthy life expectancy that exceeds the increase in average life expectancy
• Extending healthy life expectancy by at least 3 years for both men and women, to 75 years or older

The wording of the former is the key point. If only lifespan extends and the gap widens, that is not called improvement—this is how it has been defined.

The term healthy life expectancy is not an indicator for competing over who lives the longest. It is an indicator for looking at what condition people spend their longer years in. What the numbers show is not simply the number of years, but the substance of everyday life.

For global aging, see WHO estimates as well.

Reference: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

※This article introduces statistics and system information published by public institutions and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any specific disease. If you have health concerns, please consult a medical institution.

—The Value Village Editorial Team