Best, Worst Countries for Life Expectancy

The World Health Organization's new report is based on data from 2007, the most recent year for which global life expectancy statistics are available.

The report shows that 14 countries had life expectancies of at least 81 years. Here are those countries, along with their life expectancy for babies born in 2007:

• Japan: 83
• Australia, Iceland, Italy, San Marino: 82
• Andorra, France, Israel, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden: 81

At the other end of the life expectancy spectrum, 15 countries had life expectancy below age 50. Here are those countries and their life expectancy for babies born in 2007:

• Sierra Leone: 41
• Afghanistan: 42
• Lesotho, Zimbabwe: 45
• Chad, Zambia: 46
• Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Swaziland, Uganda: 48
• Burkina Faso, Burundi, Mali: Nigeria 49

In the U.S., life expectancy for a baby born in 2007 is 78 years. Chile, Cuba, Denmark, Kuwait, Slovenia, and the United Arab Emirates share that same life expectancy.

I live in a world where some are expected to live to only half the age of others, simple because there is unequal distribution of wealth, health, and education. Thank God I do not merely live for this world!

Sources: Medscape Public Health and Prevention, World Health Organization: "World Health Statistics, 2009; Images: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan