The Expanding Longevity of Mexicans Tim Johnson - McClatchy Newspapers
go to original November 2, 2012

Ana Maria Perez, once put forward for the title of world's oldest woman, died at 119 in the Pacific state of Colima. (Associated Press)

It’s a good time to talk about death. Day of the Dead is here.

Older Mexicans have seen an astounding transformation in when their day of reckoning comes.

In 1930, life expectancy for Mexicans was 34 years. By 2010, Mexican men were living an average 73.1 years while Mexican women were hitting 77.8 years.

These figures are courtesy of the National Statistics Institute, which provided some other tidbits in a report this week fitting to the theme of Day of the Dead.

In 2010, the most recent year for statistics, 592,000 Mexicans died. Men, it may come as no surprise, are dying in greater numbers than women. On average, the institute says, 132 men die for every 100 women.

But in the age range of 25-29, the gap spreads to 378 men die for every 100 women.

The most common cause of death in Mexico is diabetes, which takes 14 percent of those who die, it said.

Among kids aged 5 to 14, a high number get killed in auto accidents, either run over by vehicles or killed in crashes. It is the cause of 12.8 percent of their deaths. That category kills 16 percent of young people aged 15 to 29.

Of Mexicans who died a violent death, 70.8 percent were killed by a firearm, 10.1 percent were stabbed to death, 5.5 percent were asphyxiated and 13.6 percent were killed some other way.

Tim Johnson is the Mexico bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers. Follow Tim on Twitter: @timjohnson4

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