Since 1990, global life expectancy has risen by more than six years, even in some of the poorest countries. Healthy life expectancy, the number of years someone is expected to experience good health, has also increased, although at a slightly lower rate – a bit more than a five year increase. “The differences between countries with the highest and lowest healthy life expectancies is stark.” Japan leads the table with the highest life expectancy; interestingly, neither the USA nor the UK are in the top 10. Science Daily published an overview of the research first presented in The Lancet.