Singapore discusses nine-year gap between life expectancy and healthy life
At the AIA Healthcare Summit 2026 in Singapore, participants discussed how to reduce the approximately nine-year gap between the country’s residents’ life expectancy and the number of years they can live in good health. The event took place on 12 August at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore hotel and brought together more than 700 government representatives, researchers, medical professionals, consultants and AIA clients, according to an advertorial by Channel NewsAsia.
According to the data cited, this gap means that Singapore residents may spend around nine years living with illnesses or in deteriorating health. According to the AIA Longevity Study, this prospect concerns 51% of surveyed Singaporeans.
Healthcare financing
Lai Wei Lin, Permanent Secretary for Policy and Development at Singapore’s Ministry of Health, drew attention to the growing number and share of people aged 80 and over. According to her, longer life expectancy raises the question of how to adapt insurance coverage for people throughout their working lives and after retirement.
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Among the areas of cooperation between the state and private sector, she named protecting people throughout their lives, maintaining the sustainability of insurance coverage and investing in preventive medicine. Lydia Loh, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Healthcare Finance Group, noted that insurance premiums are affected by the more active use of healthcare services as the population ages, medical inflation due to rising staff costs and medical progress, as well as system inefficiency.
Prevention and healthy habits
Kelvin Loh, Chief Medical Officer of AIA Group, said that deteriorating health in old age is not inevitable, as many risk factors for age-related diseases can be changed. He listed physical activity, improved sleep, quitting smoking, limiting alcohol and increasing the share of plant-based food in the diet among such measures.
Professor Andrea Maier, co-founder of Chi Longevity, spoke about a personalised approach involving assessments of physical and cognitive health to determine an individual biological ageing profile. The material also notes that social ties, motivation and a sense of purpose can affect quality of life in older age.
