Long life, in itself, is not enough. What is important is living a healthy life. That was the message sent by the World Health Organization last year when it announced a new method of reviewing life expectancy.
According to a study of 191 countries using the WHO's new Disability Adjusted Life Expectancy system, Japanese have the longest healthy life expectancy, at 74.5 years. They are followed by Australians, at 73.2 years, the French at 73.1, Swedes at 73.0, Spaniards at 72.8, Italians at 72.7 and Greeks at 72.5.
People in other countries may envy Japan for the well-known longevity of its natives -- life expectancy in 1998 was 84.01 years for Japanese women and 77.16 for Japanese men. Japanese, they might think, can afford expectations of what everybody wants: a long, healthy life.