South Korea’s life expectancy has increased at a rapid rate over the past two decades, largely on advances in medical services, a report showed last week.

According to the Korea Insurance Research Institute, South Korea’s life expectancy came to 81 years as of end-2013, up 8.6 years from 72.5 years in 1990.

KIRI officials attributed the large increase to medical advances, with the life expectancy of people diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases growing an average 3.9 years, according to the report.

The life expectancy of cancer patients also gained a year over the 23-year period, while that of people with respiratory diseases added 0.8 year.

A drop in the number of deaths from car accidents over the cited period also helped extend the life spans of Koreans, KIRI said.