Global life expectancy increased by 6.2 years

According to a study published in The Lancet, life expectancy has increased by 6.2 years since 1990.

Scientific work was carried out as part of the fight against leading causes of mortality, such as cardiovascular (coronary heart disease, stroke), respiratory (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lower respiratory tract infections), cancer, etc. However, the Covid-19 pandemic “has made its own changes “.

The region, which includes Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania, saw the largest increase in life expectancy between 1990 and 2021 – 8.3 years, mainly due to a decrease in mortality from chronic respiratory diseases, stroke, lower respiratory tract infections and cancer. Tight management of the pandemic has helped keep these numbers flat.

South Asia had the second highest increase in life expectancy (7.8 years), largely due to a sharp decline in deaths from gastrointestinal diseases. Regionally, the largest increase in life expectancy was observed in eastern sub-Saharan Africa, at 10.7 years.

Generally reduction in deaths from intestinal diseases increased global life expectancy by 1.1 years between 1990 and 2021. Decrease in mortality from lower respiratory tract infections added 0.9 years to global life expectancy. Advances in preventing deaths from other causes, including stroke, neonatal diseases, coronary heart disease and canceralso contributed increase in life expectancy.

Researchers point to places where some of the most severe diseases are currently concentrated. For example in 2021 deaths from enteric diseases were largely concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. 90% of cases deaths from malaria occurred in a region inhabited by just 12% of the world's population and stretching from western sub-Saharan Africa, through central Africa to Mozambique.

The researchers also note uneven progress for diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer. Unlike many low-income countries, in In high-income countries, mortality from many types of non-communicable diseases has decreased.

The study, conducted by the independent US Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, also highlights how Covid-19 radically changed the five leading causes of death for the first time in 30 years. It has displaced the long-dominant killer, stroke, to become the second leading cause of death in the world. The regions hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic were Latin America and the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa.

The study shows rising threats from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and kidney disease, which are on the rise in all countries of the world.

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