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

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN

(CNN) — If you want to live a long and healthy life, you’d be better off in South Korea than the United States.

In the 1980s, our country was about average in terms of life expectancy for developed nations. But since then much of the world has improved, and the United States has dropped toward the bottom of that list.

On the other side of the world, life expectancy has been growing fast in South Korea, with a massive leap of 7.94 years from 2000 to 2021, according to the World Health Organization.

What South Koreans are doing right and what Americans can learn when it comes to longevity boils down to actions you can incorporate now.

More vegetables at all ages

When journalist Kara Swisher visited a South Korean school at lunchtime, she said she was surprised by what she saw on students’ trays: lettuce wraps, radish-chive salad, kimchi and seasonal fruit. Those are not necessarily what her own young children would reach for, she said.

But throughout their time in school, Korean children are provided a free school lunch, which is tailored for both nutrition and education by a school nutritionist, Yeonju Kim, a school nutritionist, told Swisher.

In 2023, a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly half of kids ages 1 to 5 don’t eat a vegetable every day, and a third don’t eat a daily fruit, citing a survey of parents.

And the problem isn’t just picky kids –– it persists into adulthood. Nearly half of American adults eat a poor-quality diet, according to a 2025 study. The quality of their diet was evaluated against the American Heart Association’s primary diet score, which favors diets that are high in fruits and vegetables, made with whole grains, healthy proteins and fats with minimally processed foods.

Diets high in these areas, including MIND and Mediterranean eating, have been associated with both living longer and lowering the risk for cognitive decline in later years. (The MIND diet stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.)

It can be hard to feel the impacts of healthy eating in the moment, but over time the results are apparent.

Activity of all kinds

When it comes to studying South Korean “SuperAgers” — older adults with cognitive abilities expected in people decades younger — some of the most influential lifestyle factors have been physical exercise, social interaction and new, challenging activities, said Dr. Geon-Ha Kim, a neuroscientist at Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Seoul.

For lessons on activity, Swisher spoke with the social media star known as “Korea Grandma,” Park Mak-rye. The 79-year-old shares her healthy cooking recipes, skin care regime and exercise routines online. Those elements, in addition to her close group of friends, are keys to her health, she told Swisher.

The data on activity of all kinds is clear.

Regular exercise that increases your heart and breathing rate has been associated with an up to 40% decreased risk of early death. Those who experience loneliness and social isolation had a 32% increased risk of dying early from any cause, according to a 2023 study. And engaging with arts and culture may be able to slow aging, according to a study published this week.

“I’m with friends laughing all day. There’s no room for sickness,” Park said.

Proactive care

One thing that looks especially different in South Korea compared with the United States is healthcare. A big differentiator is the focus on treatment or prevention, Hieun Shin, a journalist for Agence France-Presse covering social, political and cultural elements of life in South Korea, told Swisher.

“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 American health system, “physicians are paid for treating disease — thousands of dollars of reimbursement for a heart bypass surgery but very little for an office visit to address the lifestyle factors that could prevent heart disease.”

In contrast, it is common to visit healthcare professionals often in South Korea, the AFP journalist said, whether it’s for a sniffle or back pain. But that’s easier to do in a country in which healthcare is affordable, she said.

An individual might not be able to change the medical landscape in the United States overnight, but there are steps available to take a more preventive approach to your own health, Studer said.

Get vaccines and regular screenings and make sure to focus on doing exercise (including strength training), eating more plants, getting enough sleep, managing stress and cutting down or cutting out vaping, tobacco and alcohol, she said.

And those changes can be just one more vegetable a day or one less alcoholic drink, she said.

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

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