The life expectancy of South Korean babies born last year reached 83.6 years, data showed, hovering above the average of major advanced countries.

The average life expectancy at birth in 2021 marked a slight rise from the 83.5 years tallied a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

Compared with 1970 and 2000, the average life expectancy became 21.3 years and 7.6 years longer, respectively.

Boys and girls born in 2021 are expected to live 80.6 years and 86.6 years, respectively. The gender gap in life expectancy continued to fall since hitting a peak of 8.6 years in 1985.

South Korea's life expectancies for men and women are 2.9 years and 3.5 years longer than the average of the 38 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (Yonhap)