Swiss women expect to live to 84
The Swiss Federal Office of Statistics has released new figures on life expectancy, but there are large differences between regions.
Men in Canton Zug, a region near Zurich, live longer than anywhere else in Switzerland, while women are reported to be luckier in the southern Italian region of Ticino, newly released data shows.
According to the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics, life expectancy in 2008-2009 in Switzerland was an average of 79.9 years for men and 84.3 years for women. In Canton Zug, well known as the home of many companies drawn to the area for its low tax rates, the average life expectancy for men reached 81.4 years, two years more than the national average.
Above 80 figures are also reported in the cantons of Zurich, Geneva and Basel-Landschaft, among others. Canton Glarus in east central Switzerland is the area that reports the lowest life expectancy in the country, data show.
There are many factors that can modify life expectancy from one area to the other, according to experts, such as regional eating habits, hospital infrastructure or the proportion of smokers on the local population.
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