Malta has cut its risk of premature death in both men and women by 60 per cent in the past 40 years, a worldwide study has found.
According to the research, published in the renowned medical journal The Lancet, Maltese men in the 15 to 59-year-old age bracket have the third lowest risk of mortality in 187 countries, following behind Iceland and Sweden.
Maltese men have a 73 per 1,000 chance of dying prematurely, that is, before celebrating their 60th birthday - down from 184 per 1,000 in 1970.
Although the country did not place among the frontrunners when it comes to female mortality, Maltese women have a lower chance of dying before turning 60 than their male counterparts.
In fact, the study found that women have a 45 per 1,000 chance of dying before they go out on pension, a fall from 110 per 1,000 in 1970.
Malta ranked 11th for female mortality in 2010, placing between Iceland and Israel and climbing from the 30th place in 1970, but down from the seventh place in 1990. However, although Malta slipped four places between 1990 and this year, the chance of dying before 60 decreased by almost two per cent.
Cyprus, another Mediterranean island, had the lowest mortality rate among women, followed by Korea and Japan.
The researchers pointed out that there was a rapid decline in adult female mortality in south Asia, which went down by 56 per cent since 1970, when the region had the highest mortality rate for under 60-year-old women.
Swaziland has the highest mortality for men while Zambia has the highest mortality for women. The two sub-Saharan countries also ranked in the second highest places - Zambia for men and Swaziland for women.
The study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at estimating mortality in men and women aged between 15 and 59-year-olds in 187 countries. The researchers, headed by Prof. Christopher Murray, from Seattle's University of Washington, used almost 4,000 measurements of adult mortality to estimate the probability of death.
According to the researchers, substantial increases were registered in adult mortality in sub-Saharan countries in the past 40 years because of the HIV epidemic.
However, reductions in HIV seroprevalence and better access to antiretroviral treatment has contributed to a decline in male and female mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa since 2005.
The researchers said the changes in adult mortality could be explained by five factors - the diseases of affluence, socioeconomic development, improved health technologies, social dysfunction in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse and the HIV epidemic. Increases in the prevalence of income-related risk factors for non-communicable diseases could have accounted for increases in adult mortality in some countries with a rapidly increasing income, like the Philippines and Indonesia.
However, the researchers pointed out that adult mortality has not increased in many other countries with a similarly raising income.
They highlighted the importance of preventing premature adult deaths, putting it on the same level as improving child survival.