KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor residents have the highest life expectancy in the country, averaging 78 years, whereas people in Terengganu have the lowest at 72.2 years, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) Abridged Life Tables for 2022-2024.
From the statistics, it could be seen that life expectancy in the country had been on the rise again as people adapted to the pandemic. Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Labuan all had life expectancies above the national average for this year.
In terms of gender, women tended to live longer than men in all states. For example, in Selangor, men could expect to live up to 76.1 years, while women might enjoy life up to 80.3 years – a difference of 4.2 years.
The district with the highest life expectancy was Petaling in Selangor at 80.2 years as recorded this year. Samarahan in Sarawak held the top spot last year and in 2022 at 79.6 years and 79.5 years, respectively.
In Terengganu, Kuala Nerus recorded the best average at 74.2 years, whereas Setiu had the worst at 71.
On the morbid end, Kuala Penyu in Sabah consecutively recorded the lowest average life expectancy at 63.4 years from 2022 to this year.
In the Asean region, Malaysia's life expectancy fell within the middle range, ranking above Indonesia but below Vietnam.
Another interesting observation is the life expectancy between citizens of all races and non-citizen residents.
According to DOSM's other data on its dashboard, non-citizen residents seemed to outlive Malaysians of all races in both genders, with an average lifespan of 82.1 years.
(https://open.dosm.gov.my/dashboard/life-expectancy)
In June, the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) said that they are looking to realign the retirement age due to the increasing life expectancy among Malaysians.