Why do people in Macau live longer than nearly everywhere else in the world?

Macau’s population enjoys one of the highest life expectancies in the world – second only to Hong Kong. The World Bank reports that the average life expectancy in the city jumped from 65 years in 1960 to 85 by 2021 – surpassing Japan and San Marino, in third and fourth place respectively. So just what are locals doing that means they live longer than almost everyone else?

For Manuel, exercise is still part of his daily routine. At 88 years old, he gets up early every day for his workout of choice: kung fu. The soft-spoken member of the Macanese community – whose people are of mixed Chinese and Portuguese descent – still looks fit as approaches his 10th decade. Regarding diet, moderation is key. “I eat anything – but just enough,” he says.

An elderly couple surnamed Ho offer more hints about the city’s healthy diet. “Our meals consist of very few fried foods and we rarely go out to eat,” says 72-year-old Mrs Ho. Dinner includes at least two vegetable dishes, and their meals are mostly cooked through boiling or steaming, avoiding oily and deep-fried dishes. Mr Ho, who turns 75 this year, advises, “The food you eat should be healthier, while you should also eat less fried and heavy food.”

“In addition to a healthy diet, exercise is important if you want to live a long life,” adds Mrs Ho. “For me and my husband, it’s a bit difficult to do now, but we still like to take walks.”

Taking walks is something that 28-year-old Ms Chen, who works in administration, plans on doing more of. While she isn’t a particularly sporty person, she does take long walks after clocking out of work as a form of exercise and intends to keep it up.

She eats just twice a day and only during an eight-hour window, a form of intermittent fasting that she says allows one to “digest food more easily, so it’s better for our health”.