Richer people live up to nine more healthy lives

A study showed that people with higher incomes live around nine years in greater health than those with low incomes. With the gap based on income growing for ‘Healthy Life Years,’ in which people live physically and mentally healthy years without sickness, many point out that efforts are urgently needed to address such polarization.

According to a paper published on Sunday in the Journal of the Korean Medical Society by a research team led by Professor Yoon Seok-jun of the Preventive Medicine Department of Korea University School of Medicine, the healthy life expectancy of Koreans increased by 2.93 years over 12 years from 68.89 years in 2008 to 71.82 years in 2020. This result was derived from the research team's National Health Insurance Corporation data analysis from the relevant period. Healthy lifespan refers to life expectancy minus the period of disease or disability.

“The lower the income, the less time people have to look after their health and higher risk of failing to detecting diseases early,” said Professor Yoon. “We need to implement policies such as providing health vouchers to those in the lower income bracket.”


Sung-Min Park min@donga.com