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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Turkey

2nd August 2013

Why Turks can feel good about getting older

10Most of us should feel happy about getting older – as they say, it’s better than the alternative. But some of us can feel happier about it than others.

To find out why, check out this fascinating Google web-site based on World Bank statistics. It shows life expectancy at birth, ie how long you can expect to live if you are born today. By way of illustration I’ve entered data for Turkey, where life expectancy has increased rapidly in recent decades.

In fact, average life expectancy in Turkey has increased rapidly from 1970 onwards, from around 50 then to well over 70 in 2011. On the way, Turkey overtook the world average in around 1996.

To use the site, all you have to do is click on the country of your choice in the list on the left and you can compare developments in life expectancy between countries – or the world average.

If, like me, you are sufficiently sad to love statistics you can spend hours comparing life expectancy and its development in different countries since 1960.  For example,  the United Kingdom has a somewhat better life expectancy than Germany or the United States but lags slightly behind France, Italy and Spain.  Time to move to the Med?

1 comment on “Why Turks can feel good about getting older”

  1. Dear Leigh,

    I would like to share my own observations with you regarding to the subject. Like everything else this fact has different several reasons to cause the result.

    -Mediterannean cultures do not appreciate Protestan work ethic.They naturally care more about SSS(sun, sand and sea) than retirement pention. For this reason they have more relaxed attitude towards life in general.

    – Mediterannean cuisine: no doubt Mediterannean people have more healthy diet than most of Northern European people and eating is a culture there. Also they spend longer time to enjoy their food than having a sandwich in 10 minutes.That means to me,eating is a sourse of joy more than being an obligation not to starve.

    – Retirement age is higher in Northern European countries.(Please correct me if I am wrong) It is depressing to think that you will work between ages of 18-65 aproximatelly 8 hours a day.

    – Climate: Mediterannean climate is invigorating! I was living in England last year and I experienced how a grey weather in July makes people miserable.Personally this is also reflexted to music; as much as I adore Radiohead, Muse ect. admitedly their songs are a bit gloomy. On the other hand Spanish music is more like ”Ay-yaya ya! Vamos bailar Flamenco :)”

    I do not want to bore you with my observations but this lists goes on… Me and my boyfriend (he is English) decided to live in Turkey, so far he shares my theories about differences between Northern European cultures and Mediterannean Cultures. In my opinion if Turkey was not a muslim country , it would have been more like Greece, Italy and Spain.I mean more relaxed and civilised…We are more like culture of cultural clashes, as in the clishe term; crosroads of West and East…

    I hope you do not struggle to deal with that and enjoy your time in Turkey.

    Sincerely,

    Tuğba Anbanazlı

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About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.

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