Tell me in a second, where is the longest-lived country in the world?
A. Japan
B. Hong Kong, China
C. Switzerland
Singapore
The correct answer is: Hong Kong, China.
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
According to statistics from the United Nations Development Programme[1], the highest life expectancy in the world is not in Japan, but in Hong Kong.
In 2019, hong Kong's average life expectancy was 84.9 years. And both men and women are ranked first in the world.
(Regions or countries in the top ten in terms of life expectancy in 2019.) Source: United Nations Development Programme[1])
Hong Kong, China has been the world's longest-lived region for seven consecutive years (2013-2019).
Many people have the impression that Hong Kong is a fast-paced area with a very high work pressure, and the living conditions are not as good as many cities in the mainland. It's hard to imagine Hong Kong becoming the world's longest-lived region.
Do Hong Kong people have any longevity secrets?
There really is! Recently, a study by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong unveiled the secret of Hong Kong people's longevity... [5]
The research team at the University of Hong Kong compared 263 million figures from 18 countries or regions, including Singapore, South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and others.
The key reasons for the longevity of Hong Kong people are:
1. The mortality rate from cardiovascular disease is the lowest in these countries, both men and women.
2. Women in Hong Kong have the lowest mortality rate caused by cancer.
3. Lowest mortality rate due to traffic accidents.
The first 2 reasons can actually be boiled down to one thing – Hong Kong's smoking rate is lower than in other countries.
(We'll talk more about this later.) ）
In fact, as early as 1960, Hong Kong's average life expectancy ranked 20th to 30th in the world.
From 1960 to 2020, the average life expectancy of both men and women in Hong Kong has been rising. The average life expectancy of women has increased by about 15 years, ranking first in the world.
The increase in life expectancy is mainly to reduce the "mortality rate of the main cause of death".
It sounds like a correct nonsense, but from a scientific point of view, the reason for longevity is so simple and crude.
The main causes of death in the elderly include cardiovascular disease, tumors, respiratory diseases and traffic accidents.
As we can see from the chart below, Hong Kong has done far more well than it has done poorly in controlling the mortality rate of the main causes of death.
(In terms of controlling mortality from major causes of death, a comparison chart of Hong Kong with other high-income areas.) Source: University of Hong Kong Li Ka Shing School of Medicine official website[7])
Before answering this question, we need to understand one thing:
Of all deaths, 30 percent are genetically linked, 15 percent are socially linked, 5 percent are environmental exposures, and 40 percent are related to each of our behavioral patterns. For example, what we choose to eat, or whether we smoke or not,[ 6]
(Several factors associated with premature death.) Source: Official website of the School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing School of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong)
Remember, as we said earlier, the smoking rate in Hong Kong is very low.
Of the preventable deaths, smoking is the single largest cause.
A 50-year follow-up study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showed that people who smoked in their lifetime had an average lifespan of 10 years less than those who never smoked.[8]
Hong Kong has always been a "superior student" in tobacco control.
In January 2007, Hong Kong implemented a total smoking ban. It became the second Asian country after Singapore to ban citizens from smoking in most public places.
If you dare to smoke in public places in Hong Kong, you will be fined 5,000 Hong Kong dollars directly!
Let's take a look at the cigarette cases in Hong Kong that look like this—
(A health warning for cigarette packs introduced in Hong Kong from 2017.) Source: WHO Official Micro)
Not only Hong Kong, but also more and more regions/countries are realizing that beautiful cigarette packs are an important medium for people, especially teenagers, to smoke [9].
Simply printing a painless and itchy sentence "smoking is harmful to health" is not enough to raise awareness of the harm of tobacco.
It must be the kind of picture that makes people feel disgusted from the heart to reduce the desire to smoke.
Hong Kong's strong tobacco control measures not only directly reduce the risk of death of smokers, but also reduce the risk of death of non-smokers, especially women.
Like Chinese mainland, smoking rates among Hong Kong women remained at a very low level.
Tobacco control is essential to reduce the harm of secondhand smoke, and the following data is strongly recommended for you to take a look [10]:
An estimated 1 in 3 adults worldwide are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke. Second-hand smoke alone causes about 600,000 unnatural deaths worldwide each year.
Since men smoke more than women, secondhand smoke is more harmful to women. Of all deaths due to second-hand smoke, 47% are women.
The World Health Organization has long recognized that secondhand smoke can lead to lung cancer, heart disease and other health problems.
Of course, like other regions, hong kong tobacco control will still encounter some new challenges, such as e-cigarettes, etc., and future tobacco control policies may introduce new regulations for e-cigarettes [11].
Hong Kong's tobacco control measures can be summed up in two points:
First, try to reduce the smoking rate;
The second is to minimize the harm of tobacco to non-smokers.
(The change curve of smoking prevalence in Hong Kong from 1982 to 2010.) Source: Official website of the School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing School of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong)
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong believe that low smoking rates are crucial to the longevity of hong Kong's population, giving Hong Kongers a higher survival advantage over residents of other high-income areas.
Summary
The secret of Longevity in Hong Kong is not difficult to copy, the key depends on whether you are willing to do it.
It is hoped that Hong Kong's tobacco control measures will give us more inspiration and benefit all Chinese people. I believe that one day, "long life and a hundred years old" will no longer be an unattainable dream.
bibliography
[1]"Human Development Report 2020 (statistical tables 1 and 4)" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme.
[2]https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.INend=2019&name_desc=false&start=1960&type=shaded&view=chart.
[3]https://longevity.sph.hku.hk/animate.
[4] Centre for Health Protection. Life expectancy at birth (male and female), 1971–2019. 2020. https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/statistics/data/10/27/111.html (accessed June 3, 2019).
[5] Michael Y Ni, Vladimir Canudas-Romo, et al, Understanding longevity in Hong Kong: a comparative study with long-living, high-income countries, The Lancet Public Health, 2021, ISSN 2468-2667.
[6]https://sph.hku.hk/en/News%20And%20Events/Press%20Releases/2021/Tobacco%20control%20shown%20to%20be%20the%20key%20driver%20for.
[7]http://www.med.hku.hk/en/news/press//-/media/HKU-Med-Fac/News/slides/20210906_SPH_Life-Expectancy_clean.ashx.
[8]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC437139/
[9]https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/global/pdfs/zh/plain_packaging_evidence_zh.pdf.
[10]tobaccofreekids.org/assets/global/pdfs/zh/WT_essential_facts_zh.pdf.
[11]https://sc.isd.gov.hk/TuniS/www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201902/15/P2019021500217.htm.
Author: Zhuang Shilihe
Editors: Zhang Jie, Zhang Li, Zhang Liang
Proofreading: Wu Yihe | Typesetting: Li Yongmin
Operation: Han Ningning | Coordinator: Wu Wei