South Korea's life expectancy has reached 83.7 years, ranking among the top in the OECD, while its suicide rate remains at the highest level in the organization.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare released the results of analyzing detailed indicators across major fields from the "OECD Health Statistics 2026" today (July 23).


Based on children born in 2024, South Korea's life expectancy stood at 83.7 years, which is 2.5 years longer than the OECD country average of 81.2 years.

Life expectancy refers to the number of years a newborn in a given year is expected to live.

Countries with longer life expectancies than South Korea include Sweden at 83.8 years, Spain at 84.0 years, Japan at 84.1 years, and Switzerland at 84.2 years.

The difference between Switzerland, which has the longest life expectancy, and South Korea is 0.5 years.


On the other hand, the suicide rate remains the highest among OECD countries.

As of 2023, South Korea's suicide mortality rate per 100,000 population was 24.8 people, the highest among OECD member nations.

The OECD average stood at 10.9 people.

(Photo provided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Yonhap News)