Welcome to the column.
There are developed countries and developing countries in this world, how to evaluate whether a country is developed enough? Of course, we can look at per capita GDP, which indicates how much value and income an ordinary person in your country can create in a year. However, often this value is not very accurate, and sometimes the level of per capita GDP does not accurately reflect the living conditions of the people of a country.
For example, we often ridicule our neighbor South Korea, which was also rated as a developed country at the end of last year, and the per capita GDP is more than 30,000 US dollars, but many people are teasing That Koreans cannot afford meat and fruit. Yes, for ordinary people, a country is not developed often depends on the living conditions of the people, how big a house you can live in, can not afford to drive a car, is there meat for three meals, and fruit after meals?
Of course, we can also look at several other indicators, for example, we have mentioned to you in the past, we can actually judge the economic development of a country by looking at the height of teenagers, do you know? In our long-term memory, the Japanese are absolutely inferior to our Chinese, because Japan has a thousand years of vegetarian tradition, and in ancient Japan, the poor were poor, and indeed there were no resources, and the japanese people lived very poorly. Therefore, the average height of a large number of Ordinary Japanese people is about 1.4 meters to 1.5 meters, and japan has left a lot of armor in the Sengoku period, and today we look at the past like a child's toy. But when japan was in the Warring States period, the gang was really so short.
But after World War II, the height of Japanese citizens has improved greatly, why? The economy has developed, and the Japanese people pay special attention to the nutrition of teenagers, and Japan proposes that teenagers should drink one pound of milk per day, one pound of milk per day, and strengthen a nation. So by the end of the 1990s, there were relevant data showing that the height of Japanese teenagers had caught up with Our country, it was not easy, and drinking milk for decades caught up with the height that had fallen for thousands of years.
But the past 20 years has been an era of great economic development in China, so a few days ago we also shared a data with you, in the past 20 years, the height of Chinese young people has increased the fastest, and now we have surpassed Japan to become the highest ethnic group in East Asia.
Height and economic development are absolutely positively correlated, which is very easy to understand, only if you develop the economy, the people's pockets are more drummed, can you invest more money in diet, our children's nutrition will be sufficient, then of course you can grow tall. Today we can see boys and girls at 1 meter 6 and 1 meter 7 in many primary schools, which is unimaginable in the past, but the new generation of Chinese has really grown up, and indeed we are much better than we were decades ago in terms of material life.
For many post-70s people still have such memories, you can only eat meat once a week, for many post-80s and post-90s, the New Year represents a particularly good day to eat. But is this year's post-00s and post-10s New Year's concept? They have no concept of eating at all, because they are eating every day for the New Year.
So in addition to height can prove whether a country's economy is developed or not, is there any other data? Of course, there are also, for example, the average life expectancy, relatively speaking, the more developed a country's economy is, then the medical system must be relatively better, the average income of the people is high and the nutrition is good, then the overall life expectancy of the country must be relatively high.
Our neighbor Japan is famous for its longevity, on the one hand, the Japanese economy is indeed developed, on the other hand, the Japanese people also pay attention to health, so the average life expectancy of the elderly in Japan is quite high. Similarly, after decades of economic development, the average life expectancy of our people is also increasing, and the average life expectancy of the people in China today to the end of 2021 is 77.3 years old, which is already one year higher than the end of 2016 5 years ago.
Yes, after all, science and technology are developing, the times are progressing, and now many people have proposed that at this rate of development, the average life expectancy of the people in our country will increase every few years in the future, and it may also be that when we are really dying after 80 and 90, is it possible for our average life expectancy to reach 90 years old or even 100 years old? Therefore, because the average life expectancy is constantly increasing, the United Nations has long modified the definition of middle age and old age.
In the past, 40 years old was called middle age, and now for many people, you have to retire at 60 years old, your youth is over, you have just entered middle age. But not every country, like the United States, is increasing life expectancy. Did you know? At the end of 2019, the average life expectancy in the United States was close to 79 years old, which was three years faster than that of China at that time, but by the end of this year, according to the figures given by the United States, the average life expectancy of Americans has shrunk by two years to 77 years.
Just now we said that The average life expectancy of our country is 77.3 years, yes, by the end of this year, our country has surpassed the United States in terms of average life expectancy, the United States is the most economically developed country in the world, and the per capita GDP of the United States is more than 60,000 US dollars, which is 50% higher than Japan's 40,000 US dollars. Such a developed country is logically speaking, you should have a very, very high life expectancy, yes, in the past, the average life expectancy of the United States was quite high, more advanced than ours. However, in the past two years, the average life expectancy in the United States has taken a big step backwards, what is the reason for this? What the hell is going on?
There's a well-known thing happening, and that's the COVID-19 pandemic. Before 2020, probably no one will believe that such a strong medical system as the United States will be defeated by the epidemic, and even if it encounters a global epidemic, then the United States must be the best to deal with. However, the facts are crackling in the face, and the United States is still the worst country in the world to deal with the epidemic, with more than 500,000 people diagnosed in a day. Of course, some people say that India does not also have a peak of more than 500,000 confirmed cases one day? But don't forget, India has a population of 1.4 billion, the United States only more than 300 million people, the United States today because of the new crown epidemic died more than 800,000 people, more than India, but the United States media is still very faceless to say that India died less people, that is because the Indian government falsely reported figures, India actually died 6 million people.
But everyone calculates, even if it is true that as the US media said, India has killed 6 million people because of the new crown epidemic, but the proportion of the population is not higher than that of the United States. Have you, the United States, been sadly anxious to compare the mortality rate with India? You have to know that the per capita GDP of the United States is more than 60,000 US dollars, and the per capita GDP of India is not even 3,000 US dollars, and you are 20 or 30 times more than it.
Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed life in the United States, and to this day, according to domestic statistics, the new crown epidemic has become the third deadliest killer after heart disease and cancer. What is even more worrying is the possibility that in 2022, THE NEW CROWN outbreak will become the number one killer, surpassing heart disease and cancer? Of course, some people will joke that today's mainstream developed countries in the world have not all encountered the problem of aging? Especially in our neighbor Japan, a large number of elderly people slowly become a burden on society, after the elderly retire you have not produced or worked, not only do not pay money to the pension system, but also take out a lot of money every year, they are a heavy burden on the country, because the elderly are particularly large, the aging crisis is serious, so Japan's past economy is lost for 30 years.
So some people have said that although the United States has died 800,000 people because of the new crown epidemic, it is possible to die 2 million people in the future, but who is dead? There are more Americans of South Americans, more Americans of African descent, more elderly people, more poor people, so some people say that although the United States has killed a lot of people because of the new crown epidemic, it is a very perfect human elimination plan, and the United States can throw away these burdens and then go light.
To be honest, I don't know if the person who said these ideas was joking, but I really thought so. Most of us in the group must be a bottom income group with much lower incomes than the rich, are these people the burden of the whole society and the whole country? In fact, even for Americans, they do not want to do such a cruel thing, but due to the huge failure to deal with the new crown epidemic, the average life expectancy in the United States has been reduced by two years. After 2022, is it possible to be more less?
Isn't the goal of our future development of human beings to enable everyone to grow up healthy and strong, live in this world for a few more days, and enjoy more scientific and cultural material life? In this sense, is it not that countries with higher life expectancy should be called developed countries?
