Life expectancy almost back to pre-Covid levels, says WHO
The World Health Organization reports that global life expectancy has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels of 73.3 years. However, healthy life expectancy is recovering more slowly, and deaths from noncommunicable diseases like heart disease remain a significant concern.
Why it matters
Understanding global health trends is critical for governments and health systems to allocate resources effectively as populations age and face new health challenges.
Geneva: Global life expectancy is close to the levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the outlook for years lived in good health is recovering more slowly, the WHO said Friday.Life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023 -- close to the 73.4 years recorded in 2019 before the pandemic struck, the World Health Organization said in its annual Global Health Estimates (GHE) report.The coronavirus crisis plunged global life expectancy down to 71.5 years in 2021."Living longer is one of the great achievements of public health," said Alain Labrique, head of the WHO's data department."The next challenge is to ensure that those additional years are lived in good health, while health systems adapt to respond to the changing needs of populations."The UN agency said healthy life expectancy had recovered from the pandemic more slowly, standing at 62.8 years in 2023 -- 0.4 years below the 2019 level.Meanwhile dementia deaths have tripled…
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