Life expectancy in Pakistan lower than states in region

LAHORE: Although the current life expectancy for Pakistan in 2022 stands at 67.64 years, a 0.23% increase from 2021, the citizens of India (70.42 years), Bangladesh (73.57), Bhutan (72.77), Nepal (71.74) and Sri Lanka (77.56) live longer than the Pakistanis, research shows.

According to World Bank, US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, UK Office for National Statistics, and United Nations Population Division estimates, life expectancy in the US has fallen to the lowest level since 1996, continuing a steep decline largely driven by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The life expectancy in 39 countries is more than 80 years, with Hong Kong (85.29), Japan (85.03), Macao (84.68), Switzerland (84.25) and Singapore (84.07) featuring among the top five countries where humans live the longest.

The “BBC News” writes: “Covid-19 was the major contributing factor, according to US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention data. According to the provisional data, life expectancy fell by 2.7 years between 2019 and 2021. The statistics show that Covid-19 accounted for 50% of the decline between 2020 and 2021. Between 2019 and 2020, the pandemic contributed to 74% of the decline. Unintentional injuries - a term which also includes drug overdoses - reached record highs in 2021 and contributed to 15.9% of the decline. Deaths from heart disease, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis and suicides were also significant contributors.”

The British media house adds: “For men, life expectancy fell by about a year to 73.2 in 2021 while women’s life expectancy fell by 10 months to 79.1. Life expectancy in the US is among the lowest of developed nations around the world. In the UK, for example, life expectancy stood at around 79 for men and 82.9 for women in 2020 after which it fell for the first time in 40 years.”

Following are the countries with life expectancies in brackets:

Italy (84.01), Australia (83.94), South Korea (83.50), Sweden (83.33), France (83.13), Norway (82.94), Holland (82.78), New Zealand (82.80), Finland (82.48), Canada (82.16), Austria (82.05), Germany (81.88), United Kingdom (81.77), Maldives (81.58), Denmark (81.40), Taiwan (81.04), Qatar (80.73), Poland and Lebanon (79.27), Cuba (79.18), UAE (78.46), Turkey (78.45), Thailand (77.74), Iran (77.33), Kuwait (75.85), Saudi Arabia (75.69), Indonesia (72.32) and Central African Republic (54).