The World Health Organization compiles statistics that show where, on average, people live longest. But these figures don`t tell whether genes, diet, standard of living, climate or health care are responsible, nor do they reveal whether all those long-lived people are actually healthy. No list can cover every contingency, but here are some places that have impressive records in different dimensions of good health:
Japan: The Japanese have consistently enjoyed long lives. The average man in Japan dies at age 76 and the average woman at 82, compared with 73 and 80 in the United States. Japan`s high rates of stroke and stomach cancer are more than made up for by comparatively low rates of heart attack and breast and colon cancer, diseases usually linked to a high-fat diet. The youngest Japanese are healthier too: Only 9.6 of every 1,000 Japanese babies are stillborn or die in the first year of life, compared with 14.7 in the United States.
Hong Kong: Residents of Hong Kong are also long-lived, with life expectancies of 76 years for men and 82 years for women. This could be due to the healthy Chinese diet, combined with a much higher standard of living than in the People`s Republic of China.
Sweden and Switzerland: The Swiss and the Swedes can expect to live as long as the inhabitants of Japan and Hong Kong. Swiss women enjoy a life expectancy of 83 years, compared with Swedish women`s 81 years. Swiss and Swedish men live, on average, to age 75. Sweden and Switzerland boast low infant mortality rates, with 9.6 and 11.2 deaths, respectively, per 1,000 infants.
The Netherlands: The Netherlands is ahead of the United States when it comes to low perinatal mortality: Only 9.5 of every 1,000 Dutch babies die at birth or in the first week of life, compared with 10 in the United States. In the Netherlands about one-third of babies are born at home, often with midwives attending. Instead of a lot of high-tech medicine, such as fetal monitoring and Caesareans, Dutch women get visits from social workers to check on details such as whether the baby`s crib is in a warm place.
Spain and Greece: These nations get the prize for relatively long life at low cost. Spanish men can expect to live to age 75 and women to 82, although they spend only about $650 per capita on health care a year (vs. $2,350 in the United States). Greek men live to 75 and women to 80, though their country spends a paltry $370 per capita on health care.
Canada: Our neighbors to the north enjoy a life expectancy of 74 for men and 81 for women-a year more for each than in the United States. Canadians also do well in ”healthy life expectancy,” a measure of whether the latter years of life are spent in good health.
In Canada, men live 61.3 years and women live 64.9 years without significant disability. Although Canada has a national health-care system, it still helps to be rich: While the richest Canadian men have 64.3 years of disabilty-free life expectancy, the poorest have only 50.
Hawaii: Hawaii`s death rate is the United States` lowest, partly because the state provides residents with the best access to health care. It reports low rates of heart disease and cancer, and it ranks second on healthy lifestyle issues, such as smoking.
France: Although its overall statistics aren`t as good as many other countries, France`s rate of heart attack is only about half that of the United States. And French women have the same life expectancy as the Japanese: 82 years. Researchers offer a number of explanations for the low rate of heart attack in spite of the generally fatty diet. Some credit the quality and quantity of fresh vegetables and fruits in the French diets, or the copper fungicide residues left on them, which may protect the heart.
Others note that much of the fat the French consume is in cheese, which may be less damaging to the arteries than other dairy products. Still another explanation, perhaps with the strongest evidence behind it, is that the widespread consumption of red wine protects against heart disease, even though it leads to a higher rate of cirrhosis of the liver.
The latest theory is that something in duck and goose fat, which saturates pate de foie gras, protects against heart disease.
