Men around the world take note: if you are looking to live to a ripe old age, you best move to Iceland.
According to a new study published last month in the medical journal Lancet, men in Iceland have the lowest risk of dying in the world, The country sees 65 deaths per 1,000 men before the age of 60. On the opposite end of the scale, Swaziland suffers the highest adult male mortality, with 765 premature deaths per 1,000 men.
As for women, the 5 lowest are, in order: Cyprus, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Greece.
The study had both good and bad news for mortality rates worldwide. On one hand, the Washington Post notes, "The global mortality rate for adults has fallen by about 1 percent a year for the past 40 years"; on the other hand, the study suggests a widening gap between the countries with the lowest and highest mortality rates. The study was produced by calculating death rates in 187 countries using a number of available records.
As for American males, their rate is unfortunately heading in the wrong direction, having dropped to 45th in the ranking, with 130 deaths. Even worse, US women ranked 49th.
Here are the top 6 countries with the lowest male mortality rate, along with some other notable countries' rankings.