Rio de Janeiro – Life expectancy in Brazil grew 11.24 years from 1980 (62.52 years) to 2010 (73.76 years). The result was included in the Tábuas de Mortalidade 2010 – Brasil, Grandes Regiões e Unidades da Federação (Brazil, Greater Regions and Federal Units – 2010 Mortality Figures), disclosed on Friday (2), by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE). According to the Demographics Dynamics Component manager at the IBGE, Fernando Albuquerque, in the 2010 result, Brazil is in the 91st place in the United Nations (UN) life expectancy ranking. Chile is in the 34th position and Argentina, in the 59th. In the Brics (which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the country is only behind China (70th). Then comes Brazil, followed by Russia (134th), India (149th) and South Africa (179th).
In the Northeast, of every 1,000 people reaching 60 years of age, 656 did not reach the age of 80 in 1980. Thirty years later, the total had dropped to 503. “This is an important fact as it is connected to the ageing of the population. More and more people are reaching older ages. This is a general figure. In the South, in 1980, for every 1,000 people reaching 60 years of age, 635 did not reach the age of 80. In 2010, in this same calculation, 427 did not reach 80.”
The manager pointed out that, apart from the technological advances in medicine, social policies contribute for a lowering of mortality. “Income transfer programmes allow the elderly to have access to medication. In this age group, diseases are different from those in other sectors of the population. They are chronic diseases that must have government assistance. That is taking place,” he added.
*Translated by Mark Ament