Big lessons the US can learn from a country with one of the fastest-growing lifespans

Editor’s note: The CNN original series Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever follows journalist Kara Swisher as she explores the booming life-extension industry and the people determined to defy death. Watch episode five on Saturday at 9pm ET and stream the premiere episode live on the CNN app.

If you want to live a long and healthy life, Korea is better than the United States.

In the 1980s, my country’s life expectancy was about the average level of developed countries. But since then, much of the world has made progress, while the United States has fallen to the bottom of that list.

On the other side of the world, life expectancy has been rising rapidly in South Korea, with a huge jump of 7.94 years between 2000 and 2021, according to the World Health Organization.

What Koreans do right and what Americans can learn when it comes to longevity comes down to actions you can take now.

There are more vegetables for all ages

When reporter Kara Swisher visited a Korean school during lunch, she said she was surprised by what was on students’ trays: lettuce wraps, radish and leek salad, kimchi and seasonal fruit. These are not necessarily goals her own young children would achieve, she said.

But school nutritionist Yeonju Kim told Swisher that Korean children receive free school lunches throughout the school day that are tailored for nutrition and education by school nutritionists.

In 2023, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited a survey of parents and found that nearly half of children aged 1 to 5 did not eat vegetables every day, and one-third did not eat fruit every day.

This problem isn’t just present in picky kids, but continues into adulthood. Nearly half of U.S. adults eat poor quality diets, according to a 2025 study. The quality of their diet was assessed based on the American Heart Association’s Key Diet Score, which favors a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy proteins and fats, and minimally processed foods.

Diets high in these regions, including MIND and the Mediterranean diet, are associated with longevity and a reduced risk of cognitive decline in later life. (MIND Diet stands for Mediterranean DASH Delayed Intervention for Neurodegeneration.)

It may be difficult to feel the effects of a healthy diet now, but over time, the results are noticeable.

Various activities

Dr. Geon-Ha Kim, a neuroscientist at Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Seoul, said that in studying South Korea’s “superagers” – seniors whose cognitive abilities are decades younger than theirs – some of the most influential lifestyle factors were physical exercise, social interaction and new, challenging activities.

for During an activity class, Swisher spoke with Park Mali, a social media star known as “Korean Grandma.” The 79-year-old shares her healthy cooking recipes, skin care regimen and exercise routine online. She told Swisher that these factors, in addition to her close friends, were key to her health.

Data on various activities is clear at a glance.

Regular exercise increases heart rate and breathing rate, which can reduce the risk of premature death by 40%. According to a 2023 study, those who experience loneliness and social isolation have a 32% increased risk of premature death from any cause. Participating in arts and culture may be able to slow down aging, according to a study published this week.

“My friends and I were laughing all day long. There was no room for getting sick,” Parker said.

proactive care

One thing that looks particularly different in South Korea compared to the United States is health care. Hieun Shin, an AFP reporter who covers social, political and cultural elements of life in South Korea, told Swisher that a big difference is the focus on treatment or prevention.

“No one wants to pay for prevention,” said Dr. Karen Studer, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California. In the current U.S. healthcare system, “doctors are paid to treat disease—reimbursements run into thousands of dollars for heart bypass surgery, but very little reimbursement for visits to address lifestyle factors that may prevent heart disease.”

In contrast, in South Korea, frequent visits to health care professionals, whether for a runny nose or back pain, are common, AFP reporters said. But she said that’s easier to do in a country where health care is affordable.

Studer said a person may not be able to change the medical landscape in America overnight, but there are steps he can take to take a more preventive approach to his own health.

Get vaccinated and get regular checkups, she says, and make sure to focus on exercise (including strength training), eating more plants, getting enough sleep, managing stress and reducing or quitting vaping, tobacco and alcohol.

These changes might be as simple as eating one more vegetable or drinking one less alcoholic beverage per day, she said.

“You can start small, and it doesn’t have to be a completely life-changing process unless you want to,” Studer said via email. “Small habits can lead to big changes.”

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