TOKYO: Shiga Prefecture logged the longest average life expectancy for men, at 82.73 years, as of 2020 and so did Okayama Prefecture for women, at 88.29 years, the health ministry said Friday.

On the other hand, Aomori Prefecture was at the bottom of the longevity list for both men and women, at 79.27 years and 86.33 years, respectively. The ministry conducts the life expectancy survey by prefecture every five years.

Shiga was found to be a prefecture where men live the longest for the second consecutive survey.

The latest study also found that Nagano came second in the male average, at 82.68 years, followed by Nara, at 82.40 years, Kyoto, at 82.24 years, and Kanagawa, at 82.04 years.

For women, Okayama posted the longest average lifetime, outpacing Nagano, which topped the list in the two previous surveys. The runner-up was Shiga, at 88.26 years, followed by Kyoto, at 88.25 years. Nagano ranked fourth, at 88.23 years, and Kumamoto fifth, at 88.22 years.

As for Aomori, men proved the shortest-lived for the 10th straight time and women for the fifth time. Unlike in any other prefectures, men’s average life expectancy failed to reach 80 years.

The ministry also said the average longevity widened for both men and women in all of the country’s 47 prefectures from the previous survey in 2015.

Meanwhile, the gap between the longest and shortest averages came to 3.46 years for men and 1.96 years for women, expanding from the previous survey’s 3.11 years and 1.74 years, respectively.

The ministry further reported that Okinawa Prefecture was most severely affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic in terms of COVID-19 mortality rate, which stood at 1.23 pct for men and 1.12 pct for women in 2020. The fatality rate also exceeded 1 pct in the three prefectures of Osaka, Tokyo and Hyogo for men and in Osaka for women.

Cancer and heart and brain diseases accounted for 40-50 pct of all deaths. The combined rate of deaths due to the three major diseases in the country was the highest for both men and women in Iwate Prefecture, followed by Miyagi Prefecture.

JIJI Press