COVID-19 pandemic reversed a decade of progress in global life expectancy

Key takeaways:

• Global life expectancy dropped to 2012 levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Noncommunicable diseases remain top killers.

The COVID-19 pandemic obliterated a decade of progress in global life expectancy, according to the 2024 World Health Statistics report.

“There continues to be major progress in global health, with billions of people who are enjoying better health, better access to services, and better protection from health emergencies,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, MSc, PhD, WHO Director General, said in a press release. “But we must remember how fragile progress can be.”

Between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy dropped to the level of 2012. In those 2 years, life expectancy dropped 1.8 years to 71.4, according to the report, which was released by WHO today. Global healthy life expectancy also returned to the 2012 level during this period, as it dropped 1.5 years to 61.9.

“In just 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic erased a decade of gains in life expectancy,” Tedros said.

Notably, the impact has affected some places disproportionately.

During the first 2 years of the pandemic, the Western Pacific Region was minimally affected, according to the report. Life expectancy dropped 0.1 year and healthy life expectancy dropped 0.2 year. However, the WHO regions for Southeast Asia and the Americas were affected the most. Between 2019 and 2021, overall life expectancy dropped about 3 years and healthy life expectancy dropped 2.5 years.

Before the pandemic, noncommunicable diseases were the biggest killers, according to the report. In 2019, noncommunicable diseases — including Alzheimer’s disease, cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia, diabetes, heart disease, ischemic heart disease and stroke — were responsible for 74% of all deaths. During the pandemic, these diseases accounted for 78% of non-COVID-related deaths.

The report also highlighted other important issues, like health equity for migrants, refugees and people with disabilities as well as “a massive and complex problem of a double burden of malnutrition, where undernutrition coexists with overweight and obesity.”

More than half a billion people aged 5 years and older were underweight in 2022, while 1 billion had obesity. About 37 million children aged less than 5 years were overweight, according to the report, but malnutrition “was also striking,” with 45 million being too thin for their height (wasting) and 148 million being too short for their age (stunting).

Additionally, about 1.3 billion people had disability in 2021 — about 16% of the global population — and health care access for migrants and refugees was limited. Of 84 countries surveyed between 2018 and 2021, only half were providing government-funded health services to these groups at levels comparable to their citizens.

“This highlights the urgent need for health systems to adapt and address the persisting inequities and changing demographic needs of global populations,” according to the press release.

References:

• COVID-19 eliminated a decade of progress in global level of life expectancy. https://www.who.int/news/item/24-05-2024-covid-19-eliminated-a-decade-of-progress-in-global-level-of-life-expectancy. Published May 24, 2024.
• World Health Statistics 2024. https://www.who.int/data/gho/publications/world-health-statistics.