A new study published in The Lancet on April 3, 2024 has revealed that the Global Life Expectancy has increased 6.2 years on an average since 1990. In other words, people across the globe were living more than six years longer in 2021 compared to 1990.

As per the study, an increase in life expectancy has been recorded mainly because of reductions in death from leading killers, such as diarrhoea, lower respiratory infections, stroke and ischemic heart disease. The study paper has further mentioned that the COVID-19 Pandemic derailed the progress in 2020. Else, the increase in average global life expectancy would have crossed the 6.2-year mark.

Researchers have stated that Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania were the largest net gainers in life expectancy (8.3 years) between 1990 and 2021, in spite of the challenges posed by the Pandemic. In the last three decades, these three regions have registered a lower number of deaths caused by chronic respiratory diseases, stroke, lower respiratory infections and cancer. Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania also managed to control the spread of the Pandemic efficiently. As far as South Asia is concerned, Bhutan recorded the biggest gains in life expectancy (13.6 years), followed by Bangladesh (13.3), Nepal (10.4), India (8) and Pakistan (2.5 years). South Asia registered the second-largest net increase in life expectancy (7.8 years), primarily due to steep declines in deaths from diarrhoeal diseases.

Dr Liane Ong, the co-first author of the study and the lead research scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), has issued a statement, saying: “Our study presents a nuanced picture of the world’s health. On one hand, we see countries’ monumental achievements in preventing deaths from diarrhoea and stroke. At the same time, we see how much the COVID-19 Pandemic has set us back.”

In recent times, Coronavirus has replaced stroke as a dominant killer. Stroke, a long-dominant killer, has become the second-leading cause of death globally, while Other Pandemic-related Death has secured the fifth spot among the leading causes of deaths (in 2021). On the basis of updated estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2021, the authors of the study paper have claimed that the COVID-19 Pandemic hit Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa hard. Hence, these regions lost the most years of life expectancy in 2021.

At the regional level, Eastern sub-Saharan Africa has recorded the largest increase in life expectancy (10.7 years) since 1990 due to the decrease of diarrhoeal diseases. At the same time, deaths from enteric diseases, like foodborne infections, were largely concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia in 2021. Malaria, too, caused 90% of deaths in an area inhabited by only 12% of the global population in a stretch of land, ranging from Western sub-Saharan Africa through Central Africa to Mozambique.

In a statement, co-first author of the study and Director (Subnational Burden of Disease Estimation) of IHME Professor Mohsen Naghavi stated: “We already know how to save children from dying from enteric infections, including diarrheal diseases, and progress in fighting this disease has been tremendous.” “Now, we need to focus on preventing and treating these diseases, strengthening and expanding immunisation programmes and developing brand-new vaccines against E. coli, norovirus and Shigella.” For her part, senior author of the study and Senior Research Manager of IHME Eve Wool stressed: “The global community must ensure that the lifesaving tools that have cut deaths from ischemic heart disease, stroke and other non-communicable diseases in most high-income countries are available to people in all countries, even where resources are limited.”

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das