Life Expectancy
COVID-19 erased a decade of progress in global life expectancy.
Between 2000 and 2019, global life expectancy rose from 66.8 to 73.1 years, and healthy life expectancy from 58.1 to 63.5 years. But COVID-19 reversed this progress, bringing both indicators back to 2012 levels by 2021. Men and women each lost 1.7 years in life expectancy over just two years.
Insights
Political: Pandemic-era setbacks underline the need for resilient public health policy frameworks that extend beyond crisis response.
Economic: Declines in life expectancy point to potential losses in productivity and rising long-term costs for health systems.
Social: The pandemic’s unequal toll across gender, age, and socio-economic groups exposed deep vulnerabilities in population health.
Technological: Strengthening early warning systems, data analytics, and digital health can improve future crisis response and recovery.
Legal: Gaps in legal readiness and healthcare access during emergencies have led to preventable harm.
Environmental: Emerging zoonotic and climate-linked health threats could trigger future life expectancy shocks without sustained global prevention systems.
Reflective Questions
How can health systems be strengthened to help maintain or improve life expectancy?
What early actions can reduce gender-based disparities in health outcomes during future pandemics?
How can public health systems use environmental forecasting to protect health and life expectancy?
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References:
World Health Organization, 2021. Global health estimates 2021. Geneva: World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/data/globalhealth-estimates
