中國人均壽命增速有點慢

According to the New York Times on November 23, life expectancy in China is rising slowly, despite its economic surge。

From 1990 to 2008, life expectancy in China rose 5.1 years, to 73.1, according to a World Bank compilation of United Nations data. Nearly every other big developing country, be it Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia or Iran, had a bigger increase over that span, despite much slower economic growth。

Economic growth makes almost any societal problem easier to solve, but growth doesn’t guarantee better lives — or better health — for everyone. That’s been true for centuries. The rate of growth and the kind of growth both matter. If you scan the globe today, you may end up wondering whether any country has landed on the right mix. Europe offers a good life to many people, with generous vacations, parental leaves and health benefits, but its economies have been growing slowly, which is one reason its debts are so onerous. The US grew more quickly than Europe in recent decades, but many of the gains flowed to a small slice of the population。

China can sometimes look like the economy of the future, having grown stunningly fast for almost 30 years now, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. But it, too, has real problems. Above all, its growth has been uneven. Whether China can switch to a more balanced form of growth, as its leaders have vowed, will obviously have a big effect on the rest of the global economy。

As in the Industrial Revolution, many people have left the countryside and poured into crowded cities. Accidents have become common. Obesity is rising. Pollution is terrible。

Of course, whatever the problems with China’s boom, it still has significantly improved the lives of its citizens. There is, after all, another large country with unimpressive recent gains in life expectancy, even smaller than China’s. That’s right: the US. Since 1990, we have been passed by Chile, Denmark, Slovenia and South Korea, among others. China is still five years behind us, but it’s gaining。據《紐約時報》11月23日報道，儘管中國經濟飛速發展，但是人均壽命增長速度緩慢。

據世界銀行彙編的聯合國數據，從1990年至2008年，中國人均壽命增長5.1年，達到73.1歲。而幾乎每一個其他發展中大國，無論是巴西、埃及、埃塞俄比亞、印度、印尼還是伊朗，人均壽命增幅都高於此數值，雖然這些國家經濟增長率遠低於中國。

經濟增長能促使幾乎任何社會問題得以輕易解決，但增長並不能保證每個人過上更美好的生活或變得更健康。數百年來一直如此。增長率和增長方式都起着作用。縱覽全球，或許沒有哪個國家擁有理想組合模式。歐洲爲許多人提供美好生活，許以慷慨的假期以及健康權益，但經濟增長一直緩慢，債臺高築。最近幾十年來美國的經濟增長率快於歐洲，但大部分成果只能被極少數人享用。

中國經濟有時看似前景無限：30年幾乎一直以驚人的速度增長並使數億人成功脫貧。但中國經濟發展亦存在問題，增長並不平衡。顯然，正如中國領導所說，中國能否轉爲更均衡的發展模式，將對全球各國經濟產生重大影響。

正如工業革命期間，如今許多中國人離開鄉村擁入喧囂的都市。各地事故頻發，肥胖人口上升，污染狀況嚴重。

當然，無論中國的繁榮伴生多少問題，民衆的生活水平依然得到顯著改善。而且，畢竟還有另外一個大國在這方面表現得也不怎麼樣。—沒錯，那就是美國。從1990年起，我們已被智利、丹麥、斯洛文尼亞和韓國等國趕超。中國人均壽命仍落後我們5年，但至少是在增長中。