For men, average life expectancy was 81.35 years, up 0.25 years from the previous year. For women, the figure was 87.33 years, up by 0.2 years.

The ministry said Friday it believes the increases are due to a decrease in deaths caused by cancer, heart disease and COVID-19.

Average life expectancy indicates how many years newborns in a given year are expected to live, on average.