4th June, 2009

Women in Japan and men in the tiny European nation of San Marino top the longest-lived list, according to the latest life expectancy figures from the World Health Organisation.

The figures, which were announced in May as part of the organisation’s annual health statistics, relate to the year 2007 - the latest year for which data is available - and put the life expectancy for women in Japan at 86 and that of men in San Marino at 81.

At the other end of the scale, the West African nation of Sierra Leone has the shortest life expectancy for men - 39 years - while Afghanistan has the lowest for women at just 42 years.

The data also shows that some countries have made significant improvements in life expectancy - in Eritrea, for example, average life expectancy for men has improved from 28 to 61 years and for women from 53 to 65 years since 1990.

Zimbabwe is among those states where the average lifespan of both men and women has declined since 1990 - from 57 to 45 for men and from 63 to44 for women.

- DAVID ADAMS

~ www.who.int