Israel Health & Medicine: Life Expectancy

The World Health Organization issued a report in 2016 that concluded humans were, on average, living five years longer than they were 16 years prior, in 2000. Israel was ranked as the country with the 8^th highest life expectancy in the world on the list, scoring above the United States, Canada, France, Russia, and other highly developed nations. Japan placed first on the list, with an average life expectancy of 86.8 years for both sexes. The 2022 World Population Review ranked Monaco first and Israel 28th.

The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel published a study in 2016 exploring the link between Israel’s mandatory military service and an increased male life expectancy. At the time, the average male life expectancy in Israel was 81 years, the second highest in the world (tied with Iceland, Singapore, and Switzerland). In the 34 other OECD countries, women lived an average of 5.5 years longer than men, but in Israel, they only lived three years longer. Many things factor into Israel’s higher-than-average life expectancy, according to the study, including the country’s mandatory military service that gives citizens a healthy base for the rest of their lives, its abundance of coastline, and its proximity to the equator.

Click here to see data since 1930.

Sources: Central Bureau of Statistics.
The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel.
Life Expectancy by Country 2022, World Population Review.