SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's life expectancy at birth stayed at 82.7 years in 2018, marking no change for the first time since relevant data began to be compiled in 1970, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
Babies born in 2018 were expected to live for an average of 82.7 years, unchanged from the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the first stop in the life expectancy increase in about five decades.
The country's life expectancy had been on the continuous rise amid a social trend of taking more care of health by regularly receiving medical checkup and treatment. The life expectancy at birth was 62.3 years in 1970.
Baby boys and girls born in 2018 were forecast to live 79.7 years and 85.7 years each. Those were about 1.7 years higher for baby boys than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average and 2.4 years higher for baby girls.
Meanwhile, a 40-year-old man as of 2018 was expected to live 40.8 more years, while a woman of the same age was forecast to live 46.5 more years. Those were up 3.2 years and 2.5 years each from the previous year.
Man and woman aged 60 as of last year were predicted to live 22.8 more years and 27.5 more years respectively, up 2.6 years and 2.3 years each from the prior year.
