Japanese life expectancy falls in 2022 for 2nd straight year

Yeah, blame covid, but the fact is that this is just going to keep getting worse due to the changes in lifestyles of just about all Japanese people.

Adults as well as kids have gotten used to conbini, fast food, and a host of other not so healthy foods, along with becoming more and more sedentary in their lifestyles as well.

sounds like a severe case of staiticitis to me.... either that, or, by the end of this century, life-expectancy will be early 40s.

by the end of this century, life-expectancy will be early 40s.

Incredibly unlikely. Any basis behind that wild assertion?

It doesn't seem so different from the recent pattern in other countries.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/life-expectancy-falls-27-29-nations-amid-covid-19

A ministry official said the second consecutive year of decline is "unusual" but expressed the view that the trend is unlikely to continue, citing the possibility the figure will start to rise again as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic wanes.

Usual LDP mouthpiece misdirection and it was happening before COVID in the US and UK and is now even catching up with the better BMI and diet Japanese.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/18/austerity-cuts-life-expectancy

Both the US and UK are regressing in life expectancy and have been for a decade.

The culprit is Late Stage Capitalism embraced by the oligarchic leaders of these ostensibly democratic nations and their neo-feudal agenda.

@dagon true that .

Live the fast life of a surfer and live forever.

Catch a wave.

affected significantly by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the health ministry.

I dont think this is the only factor. Look at the food they eat compare to 50 years ago. Wester influences on junk food and process foods are making japanese fatter than ever and diabetic.

The Mac Donald’s generation is catching up.

I'm pretty sure the numbers are still slightly inflated in Japan due to the constant failure of some families to report their elderly passing away and still claiming their loved ones pension. We read stories of this on a nearly weekly basis in the J media.

Too much of westernization from food to lifestyle. Japanese are on the path to American obese life!

Probably 75 percent of the ads on tv are for alcohol and junk food.

What do they expect to happen?

This trend is going to continue.

Unfortunately food quality in Japan is decreasing due to the higher inflation and stagnant salaries people have less money so they can afford less healthy food (less fruits more processed food). Moreover, it is also about cheap, processed food being imported to Japan from overseas.

Go to any supermarket and check where most of the products originated from, cheap chicken - Brazil 2kg 800 yen frozen, beef and pork from America, low 3rd quality a lot of hormones and preservatives of course you can get better one but it cost more.

Not to mention here a lot of Chinese cheap food products that might have an unknown effect on your health and body - honey, fish (frozen), asari, etc.

That has a great influence on the Japanese and they get more and more cancers every year due to eating this toxic food.

Not even mention Fukushima and products from there that are silently added into the food chain and being discounted like peaches, one full box of peaches 8-10 pieces for 1000 yen, why so cheap for such an oishii product? Does no one dare to ask? Maybe same with Japanese fresh chicken, why all of the sudden there is no place of origin on the regular chicken? before prefecture was mention on the label, now it just says "domestic product"

You guys eat healthy and stay aware.

All those unnecessary CT scans people have every year might be a contributing factor. Exposing yourself to the equivalent of hundreds of ordinary x-rays cannot be good.

Japan's youth is eating all kind of junk food, McDonald's, Konbini, Starbucks (it's not really coffee, it's sweets) etc. There's always some excitement about ads with new junk food creations. The life expectancy we see now is the expectancy of the generation that is dying. The people who are young today will have it much worse.

Additionally to having a lower life expectancy, the life they have will be more difficult, with diabetes, stroke, heart attacks etc.

Life expectancies were in decline long time before Corona (look at the US), now we are being fed that it's due to Corona, just like inflation and everything else that's bad. It's ridiculous.

The reason is clear and in our everyday lives. Every time we decide not to engage in sports, and to eat the thing that's most delicious and not most healthy. Every time the conbini creates a new product with a list of more than 30 ingredients.

Japanese life expectancy is now only 5 minutes,if they are attacked by Russian, Chinese or NK

80 is more than enough.

Hogwash. It's falling because the current centenarians had VERY different lifestyles. I know an old man in Okinawa who has seen a grandchild die of heart disease, very mind the grandchild's father died as well some time ago. Many in Okinawa barely walk anywhere and insist on driving, eat more fast food than in a lot of prefectures, etc. That's only one example. There's also the stress of overwork, poor diet (not aforementioned fast food alone), poor sleeping patterns, toxic stress of everyday life and living costs, etc. I have said for decades it won't be long before Japan sinks to where the rest of the developed world is. With costs continuing to rise, taxes going up, and no young people coming in to fill in the void that will be left by the aging population, it'll drop even further.

> tamanegiToday 06:07 pm JST

I'm pretty sure the numbers are still slightly inflated in Japan due to the constant failure of some families to report their elderly passing away and still claiming their loved ones pension. We read stories of this on a nearly weekly basis in the J media.

Yes, research shows that Japan's numbers are likely lower than the records show due to many elderly deaths being unreported or elderly lying about their age. It's not a massively widespread phenomenon but certainly higher than most nations and potentially high enough to affect the numbers we get here.

Dr. Saul Newman: debunking the 'Blue Zone' longevity myth

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018708179/dr-saul-newman-debunking-the-blue-zone-longevity-myth

(It's also true for other stats in Japan on crime)

smithinjapanToday 08:01 pm JST

With costs continuing to rise, taxes going up, and no young people coming in to fill in the void that will be left by the aging population, it'll drop even further.

I think it's always been the same as the rest of the developed world. And life expectancy is falling along with the rest of the developed world.

it is the intention of the GOV to reduce the life expectancy to reduce the financial burden of old humans who do not pay taxes.

Yep, GOV is not your friend!!! the GOV is just managing a box of cleanex.

Assuming the mortality situation remains unchanged, the ministry assesses that the probability of women born in 2022 who will die due to the virus in future is 3.03 percent and 3.28 percent for men, more than double the percentage calculated in 2021.

Hopefully, there will be better treatments available by the time the newborns of 2022 become adults.

Increase your life expectancy by simply expecting to live longer than you previously did.

The only sure thing is that almost no one will exactly live as long as those theoretical average numbers. To illustrate, throw a dice several times, the average will of course be nearly about or exactly 3.5, but no one will ever manage to throw a 3.5 with a dice.

Stress and loneliness are the biggest killer and the pandemic caused a lot of both.

I don’t see how coronavirus is “largely responsible”.

If the Japan population is about 125,000,000, and the life expectancy dropped by nearly half of one percent, then 47,000 Covid deaths is not nearly enough. It would have to have been Covid deaths in the several millions.

Correct me if my calculating is wrong.

It’s the new way fo living that the world has been partaking in over the last few decades. Less healthy food, more of it processed and less physical activity. Obesity is the world biggest killer, but it’s hard to tackle due to the current trend of fat acceptance which means you cannot tell someone they should lose weight because it means you are ghastly.

During Covid we also saw people staying in afraid for their lives when for almost everyone the danger was minimal.

It’s a tragic story of incompetence, lies and profit making to the detriment of regular folk.

If the Japan population is about 125,000,000, and the life expectancy dropped by nearly half of one percent,

Half a year, not half a percent. That's a minor misread, but it actually helps in the calculation.

then 47,000 Covid deaths is not nearly enough. It would have to have been Covid deaths in the several millions.

No it won't.

Correct me if my calculating is wrong.

Back-of-the-envelope calculation: The Japanese population is 48.7% men and 51.3% women. If on average men lived 0.42 and women lived 0.49 years shorter, this means that for that particular year, the overall total lived years were down by

126000000 × 48.7% × 0.42% + 126000000 × 51.3% × 0.49% = 574447

Divided by 47,000 covid deaths, this translates to each one of those deaths having, on average, lived

574447 ÷ 47600 = 12.07

about 12 years shorter than statistically they should have. That is within the realm of possibility, you certainly don't need two orders of magnitude more ("millions") to make it work.