South Korea's life expectancy has increased at a rapid rate over the past two decades largely on advances in medical services, while that of communist North Korea climbed at less than half the speed of the South, a report carried by Yonhap News Agency showed Thursday. 
According to the Korea Insurance Research Institute (KIRI), South Korea's life expectancy came to 81 years as of end-2013, up 8.6 years from 72.5 years in 1990. 
The increase compared with North Korea's 3.3-year gain over the cited period, KIRI said, citing related data from the Washington-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. 
The large increase in South Korea's life expectancy was mostly attributed to medical advances, with the life expectancy of people diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases growing an average 3.9 years, according to the report. 

Source : QNA