Lancet Study on Global Life Expectancy

Source-This post on Lancet Study on Global Life Expectancy has been created based on the article “Global life expectancy increased by 6.2 years in the past three decades: Lancet study” published in “Down to Earth” on 5 April 2024.

UPSC Syllabus-GS Paper-2– Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources

Context– As per the new study published in The Lancet from 1990 to 2021, there has been an overall increase in life expectancy worldwide by 6.2 years.

What are the reasons behind the increase in overall life expectancy?

This progress is due to a reduction in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, ischemic heart disease, and strokes worldwide.

What is the largest contributing factor towards increasing life expectancy?

1) Enteric disease–

Description-These are food and waterborne illnesses caused by bacteria, parasites and viruses. The category of diseases includes typhoid and diarrhea.

Achievement-It has contributed to the highest reduction in deaths. There was a substantial gain of 3.1 years in life expectancy in South Asia.

Way forward-There is need to focus on preventing and treating these diseases, strengthening and expanding immunization programs, and developing brand-new vaccines against E. coli, norovirus, and Shigella.

2) Lower respiratory infections–

It was the second-largest contributing factor towards increasing life expectancy. It led to a gain of 0.9 years from 1990 to 2021.Further, the drop in chronic respiratory diseases contributed to an increase of 0.5 years (about 6 months) in life expectancy. East Asia had a significant role in this, with improvements in mortality in China.

3) Measels–

As per studies, measles has shown widespread reductions in mortality rates. For ex-Under-5 deaths from measles were mainly concentrated within western and eastern sub-Saharan Africa

Way forward– There should be equitable distribution of life saving tools to people in all countries, even where resources are limited. These life savings have cut deaths from ischemic heart disease, stroke, and other non-communicable diseases in most high-income countries.

What is the regional variation in life expectancy?

Life expectancy was highly variable between regions. For ex-Southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania have gained 8.3 years of life expectancy overall. This is the highest worldwide.

What was the impact of Covid-19 on life expectancy?

Impact-Between 1990 and 2019, the leading causes of death remained consistent. In 2019, ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease etc.  were the top causes of age-standardized deaths globally followed by stroke etc.
However, in 2021, COVID-19 emerged as the second leading cause of age-standardized deaths in 202 by replacing stroke with 94 deaths per 100,000 population.

Regional variation-1) The effect of COVID-19 on life expectancy showed varying degrees of severity. It varied from large loss of 4.9 years in Andean Latin America to almost no change in East Asia.

2) Regions that had advanced medical facilities handled Covid-19 cases in an efficient way as compared to locations with poor healthcare infrastructure.

There is a need for effective disease mitigation programmes to guide future policy in burdened countries.

Question for practice

How can the findings of recently released Lancet study help policy makers to guide future policy in burdened countries?