WHO: People are living longer but spending fewer years in good health
New WHO data indicates that while global life expectancy has rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels, healthy life expectancy is recovering more slowly. The report highlights a significant shift toward noncommunicable diseases like heart disease and diabetes as the primary causes of death.
Why it matters
Understanding the gap between total life expectancy and healthy life expectancy is critical for global healthcare policy and resource allocation.
People around the world are living longer, but the extra years are increasingly being affected by chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia and mental health conditions, according to new data from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The latest WHO Global Health Estimates show that global life expectancy has almost returned to the level recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic. Life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023, compared with 73.4 years in 2019. However, the number of years people can expect to live in good health has recovered more slowly. Healthy life expectancy stood at 62.8 years in 2023, which was still 0.4 years below the 2019 level. The WHO estimates examined changes in health, causes of death and disease burden across countries and regions between 2000 and 2023. The findings show a major change in the causes of death around the world.
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