Global life expectancy bounces back to pre-pandemic norms: Study suggests

Global life expectancy bounces back to pre-pandemic levels, yet significant regional disparities persist, a new study reveals.

When the pandemic hit the world back in 2020, it became the top cause of the surge in mortality rate, pulling life expectancy down in its wake.

The study findings show that chronic diseases now cause nearly two-thirds of global deaths and diseases, led by heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

The risk factors that drive the surge in chronic diseases such as smoking, obesity and air pollution, if they can be addressed, are expected to prevent nearly half of all deaths, the scientists projected.

According to the study findings, which were published in the Lancet medical journal, people born in 2021 could expect to live to 71.7 on average.

By 2023, global life expectancy bounced back to 73.8 years.

They gathered data for five major European nations: France, Italy, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. Cardiac disease was the top cause of death in most countries in 2023, except; in France where lung cancer ranked first.

Life expectancy was also much higher in these five European countries than elsewhere in the world, ranging from 80.9 years in Germany to 83.2 years in Spain.

The researchers also raised concerns about rising death rates among teenagers and young adults in North America and Latin America due to suicide and drug and alcohol consumption, as well as in sub-Saharan Africa due to infectious diseases and accidents.