The Hmong are an ethnic group from the highlands of Laos. When a communist movement called the Pathet Lao began to gain power in Laos during the Vietnam War, the Central Intelligence Agency recruited the Hmong to fight the communists and attack North Vietnamese supply lines. The resulting conflict far outlasted the Vietnam War.
High suicide rate. Approximately 30,000 Japanese people commit suicide each year. Japan has the highest life expectancy rate in the world in part because of universal health insurance, compulsory primary education and a general healthy lifestyle, according to a new study.
The oldest among them, Misao Okawa of Japan, has nearly doubled that as she heads toward her 117th birthday in March. Here are the five oldest people in the world and their candid tips for living a long, long life: 1. Misao Okawa, 116, Japan Okawa was born in Osaka, Japan in 1898 and became the oldest person in the world when another Japanese centenarian, Jiroemon Kimura, passed away in 2013.