Between 1970-2010, Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway have remained in the top ten nations for long living males. The top five countries with the lowest overall mortality rates are Iceland, Sweden, Malta, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The five countries in 2010 with the lowest male adult mortality are, in order, Iceland, Sweden, Malta, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Sweden women ranked in 9th place in 2010 when it came to surviving longest. For women, the top countries are Cyprus, South Korea, Japan, Greece, Italy and Spain. The United States slipped from 34th and 41st place for men and women in 1990 to 49th and 45th respectively in 2010.

"With adult mortality, we are seeing this massive spread between the best and the worst off," said Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle and the main architect of the study.

The rankings of some wealthy nations for both men and women are less favorable in 2010 than they were in 1990, partly because of improvements in health elsewhere, but also due to an epidemic of "lifestyle" diseases related in particular to obesity.
Funding for the research came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.