Singaporeans live longer than others in tropics: report

Singaporeans can expect to live up to 80.6 years.
 
That is 16 years longer than their counterparts in other tropical countries, according to findings in the State of the Tropics report released on Monday.
 
It also shows that life expectancy in Singapore has increased by 20.4 years between 1950 and 2010.

Women in Singapore are also expected to live about four years longer than men for those born between 2005 and 2010.
 
The life expectancy at birth for women is 82.7 years, and for males, it is about 78.5 years.
 
Research also found that Singapore has also seen significant improvements in infant mortality rates, with only two deaths per 1,000 live births from 2005 to 2010.
 
That is down from 61 deaths per 1,000 live births in the years 1950 to 1955.
 
Infant mortality across all of the tropics has fallen from 161 deaths per 1,000 live births to 58 over the same period.
 
Professor Sandra Harding, the Vice Chancellor of Australia’s James Cook University which initiated the State of the Tropics project, said that over the past half-century, the tropical region has emerged as an increasingly critical area.
 
“More than 40 per cent of the world’s population now lives in the Tropics and this is likely to be close to 50 per cent by 2050,” Harding said of the region, which generates about 20 per cent of global economic output.
 
“However, the resources to sustain larger populations and economic growth are imposing ever-increasing pressures,” she added.