In reading the news on Instapundit that life expectancy in the US has risen to nearly 78 years [Dude, where's my healthcare crisis?-ed. Never mind.]… I got to wondering where in the world is the longest life expectancy. Japan? Switzerland? Lo and behold, it’s Macao, where the average citizen makes it to 84.36 years and the average woman is pushing 90 (well, not quite… 87.47). Whoa… will they ever have a Social Security problem.
But here’s the big question – why Macao? Well, we do know their number one industry – gambling (and gambling related tourism):
Starting in 1962, the gambling industry had been operated under a government-issued monopoly license by Stanley Ho’s Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau. The monopoly ended in 2002, and several casino owners from Las Vegas attempted to enter the market. With the opening of the Sands Macau, the largest casino in the world as measured by total number of table games,[56] in 2004 and Wynn Macau in 2006,[57] gambling revenues from Macau’s casinos were for the first time greater than those of Las Vegas Strip (each about $6 billion),[58][59] making Macau the highest-volume gambling centre in the world.[60] In 2007, Venetian Macau, at the time the second (now third) largest building in the world, opened its doors to the public, followed by MGM Grand Macau. Numerous other hotel casinos, including Galaxy Cotai Megaresort and Ponte 16, are also to be opened in the near future.
Now… as we all know… where there’s gambling there’s tons of drinkin’ and smokin’. So there you have it. Everything is on its head. The solution to longevity is not what you think it is. [More casinos?-ed.] Think how much money this could save us on healthcare.
My Aunt Ruth was a very interesting lady. She and her husband were on the last boat that escaped Romania in 1939. She had dined with Will Rogers and Wiley Post. Julia Child was a close friend. But she was immoderate in her personal life. She smoked two packs of cigarettes and drank almost a fifth of whiskey a day. They finally killed her. She was 93.
In the later years of my mother’s life, this retired school librarian had a regular card game/social group with three other retired teachers in our town. All four were widows. Three were slender and relatively moderate drinkers. The fourth was a very large woman, a dear friend of my mom’s since the late 1940s (and my trigonometry teacher in high school in the 70s). This woman was a heavy smoker, an immoderate drinker and eater, and a wonderfully larger than life personality – a true gem of a person. I don’t have to tell you which of these ladies outlived the other four, and by a margin of many years. Harriet was somewhere in her late 80s when the booze and cigarettes finally got her.
If old age doesn’t get you, ObaMedicine’s “capitation” will…
Being somewhat familiar with Macau (especially the marriage celebration traditions), I think that good diet, moderate wine and reasonable bad habits combined with mostly low-stress strong family lives is the answer. Macao does not believe in poverty or unreasonable inconveniet morality, thus stress is less than ours. On the other hand, gambling, sex and rampant vice could be it too.
Trek heads will recall an episode called “The Omega Glory.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Glory) Relevant points & spoilers: Antagonist is obsessed with the disease resistance and longevity of a local race called the Kohms, who appear to be Asian Humans and live maybe over a thousand years. The antagonist wants to learn their secret so badly that he eventually meddles in local affairs to the point of killing hundreds of the Kohms’ enemies. Punchline: There is no Fountain of Youth. The locals are long lived because of a catastrophic event in their evolution; they are the descendants of the survivors of an intense war that probably included some particularly horrible biological warfare.
Hopefully this does not mean a government body might consider improving the average person’s health by unleashing a few biological weapons on the general populace. On the other hand, if they want to throw some booze and smokes our way….
I believe Macau did not materially participate in WWII or the fighting associated with the communist revolution in the mainland. Thus fewer more members of the generation now reaching the end of their natural lifespan died in war than was the case for many of the east asian countries around them. This may have something to do with their record life expectancy.
What are the odds of that?
Well, life is kind of a crapshoot.
Good genes are better than good judgement.
Geez, Roger! Do you see what you have done?
You’ve given the ObamaCare death panels another option!
“Yes, geezer, what do YOU want?”
“I need an operation which the Assistant Post Master has denied, or I’ll die.”
“Well, the Postal decision is confirmed but, we’ve decided to help you by transporting you to Macao.”
Another example of what my Dad would call the “Don’t-Worry-About-Chickens##t” principle.
Dad’s 77 y/o, 6 foot even, about 250#, and still one of the toughest dudes I know.
Time for “You Bet Your Life” – Macao Edition.
Macao is just south of the Tropic of Cancer.
Macao (or is that Macau) was traumatized by European colonization … oops, scratch that. More seriously, if inhabitants of Macao move to the United States, how long do they live? It would be interesting to have some reliable stats on that.
What are the stats on people in Las Vegas, Monaco, or Atlantic City? The gambling is probably a red herring; most locals, even – or especially – when they are employees, aren’t “gamblers.”
Perhaps Macau simply deports the sickly, leaving nothing but healthy, active types.
Macau as an example of model health care? Horrors! After all, upon close examination, Macau’s universally accessible single-payer system is none other than (gasp!) SOCIALIZED MEDICINE!
It’s true it’s paid for out of the taxes of prosperous casino operators, but keep in mind that means taxing corporate fat cats even more (yikes!) than private citizens. Get a grip. Can’t have that.
I thought “Macao” was a Robert Mitchum movie… As for Macau maybe its not the hard drinking, smoking, or mahjong (you’ll get that anywhere and everywhere in the PR China). Maybe its the Uzebek massage ladies.