Japanese Women Live Longest

The average Japanese women lived 85.59 years in 2004, making them the world's longest-living group for the 20th consecutive year. Women in Hong Kong came in second, according to Japanese government figures, followed by Swiss women. How did the men fare? Japanese men averaged a life expectancy of 78.64 years, which placed them second after Icelandic men, who live an average of 78.8 years. The Japanese attribute their impressive longevity to a range of factors, including a healthy diet, which tends to be rich in vegetables and fish products and relatively low in animal fats.