Global life expectancy up 6.2 years since 1990: Study

New Delhi: On average, people across the world are living more than six years longer in 2021 than what they did in 1990, according to a new study published in The Lancet on Thursday, which also showed that life expectancy in India has increased by nearly eight years in the past three decades.e)..

Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, researchers said that the super region of Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania had the largest net gain in life expectancy between 1990 and 2021 (8.3 years), largely due to reductions in deaths caused by chronic respiratory diseases, stroke, lower respiratory infections, and cancer..

South Asia had the second-largest net increase in life expectancy among super-regions between 1990 and 2021 (7.8 years), primarily thanks to steep declines in deaths from diarrhoeal diseases..

The study illuminates not only the diseases that have driven increases and decreases in life expectancy, but also looks at how patterns of disease have shifted across locations over time, presenting, as the authors write, an opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies[which] might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented..

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, said Eve Wool, senior author of the study and a senior research manager, IHME..

You might be interested in