Singapore's life expectancy at birth has risen from 59 to 80 years in males, and 63 to 85 years in females from 1960 to 2015 as cited from straitstimes.com. It is conceivable that we will see life expectancies of 90 years and beyond in the near future.
According to a study by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) published on Wednesday (Oct 17) in the medical journal The Lancet, Singaporeans will have the third-longest lifespans globally in 2040.
Spain coming in first with 85.8 years of expected average lifespan, Japan in second with 85.7 years and Singapore in third with 85.4 years.
"Singapore's ranking as third in the world illustrates the effectiveness of its current health systems at addressing key health drivers," said an IHME statement on the study.
Furthermore, it added that the top six health drivers that explain most of the future trajectory for premature mortality are: High blood pressure, high body mass index, high blood sugar, tobacco use, alcohol use and air pollution.
However, a society with a population that lives longer can draw relevant lessons from a greater and accrued pool of rich life experiences and deep perspectives. With the ageing population, falling fertility rate and rising life expectancy will rise several challenges such as the prospect of more seniors at post-retirement age, the unknown impact on the quality of life of seniors; heavier caregiver burden; the inexorable growing healthcare expenditure, and the higher possibility of intergenerational conflict.
Source: straitstimes.com