Taiwan's life expectancy rises in 2023, breaks downward trend: MOI

Taipei, Aug. 23 (CNA) Average life expectancy in Taiwan increased in 2023 for the first time since 2020 after the deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic drove down average lifespans in 2021 and especially 2022, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said Friday.

Average life expectancy was 80.23 years in 2023, up by 0.39 years compared with 2022, but still 1.09 years below Taiwan's historically high life expectancy of 81.32 years in 2020, according to an MOI statement.

The reversal of the downward trend last year was driven by a decrease in COVID-19-related deaths, even as Taiwan still faced the ongoing challenge of an aging population, the ministry said.

MOI figures showed that total deaths in Taiwan in 2023 fell to 205,202, down 2,927 from the previous year.

The decline in deaths led to a 3.2 percent decrease in the standardized mortality ratio (SMR), which now stands at 429.6 per 100,000 population, according to the ministry. The SMR is a life expectancy metric that adjusts for age distribution.

According to MOI figures, the average life expectancy for men and women in 2023 was estimated at 76.94 years and 83.74 years, respectively, up 0.31 years and 0.46 years from the previous year.

The MOI data showed that Taipei had the highest average life expectancy in 2023 across Taiwan's six major municipalities at 83.32 years, followed by New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

Meanwhile, the eastern county of Taitung had the lowest life expectancy of any of Taiwan's 22 cities and counties at 76.04 years.

Though the average lifespan improved in 2023, it only returned to the level seen in 2013, when it hit 80.02 years, a sign of the toll COVID-19 took, especially in 2022, when total deaths soared to 207,230 from 183,732 a year earlier.

That pushed Taiwan's crude death rate to 8.89 per 1,000 people, far above the 7.27-7.47 per 1,000 people seen during the five years from 2016 to 2020.

In 2023, the crude death rate fell only slightly, to 8.80 per 1,000 people, as COVID deaths fell from 14,667 in 2022 to 8,962.

Figures for the first seven months of 2024 indicated that total deaths in Taiwan could again edge lower for the year as a whole.