Statistics Korea on Wednesday released data indicating that babies born in South Korea last year can expect to live an average of 82-point-seven years. 

That’s the same life expectancy that was projected in 2017, marking the first time the figure  remained unchanged year-to-year since related statistics were first compiled in 1970. 

By gender, girls born last year have an average life expectancy of 85-point-seven years, about six years longer than boys at 79-point-seven years. This gender gap was the same from a year prior.

According to Kim Jin, the head of the statistics agency’s Population Census Division, on-year average life expectancy did not improve due to a sharp surge in the number of elderly deaths during a historically cold winter.

Nonetheless, South Korea's life expectancy exceeds the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member state average by two-point-four years for girls and one-point-seven years for boys.