|
People are living 6.2 years longer on average worldwide in
2013 compared to 1990, according to a new
investigation drawing data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Life expectancy globally has risen from 65.3
years in 1990 to 71.5 years in 2013.
But even as people are living longer lives, they are spending more of
their years affected by illness, disease, or other disability. Healthy life expectancy (HALE), which takes
into account nonfatal conditions such as sickness in addition to mortality, has
not kept pace with the growth in overall life expectancy. HALE rose by only 5.4 years (from 56.9 in
1990 to 62.3 in 2013).
Health has improved around the world due to successes in reducing
death and illness caused by HIV/AIDS and malaria, as well communicable, maternal,
neonatal, and nutritional disorders. For
most countries, healthy life expectancy has risen, although in dozens of
countries it has remained flat or declined.
For example, Lesotho and Swaziland saw declines of at least 10 years in
healthy life expectancy. Nicaragua and
Cambodia, on the other hand, enjoyed gains of 14.7 years and 13.9 years,
respectively.
Healthy life expectancy worldwide ranged from a low of 42
years in Lesotho to a high of 73.4 years in Japan. Overall life expectancy in those countries
was 43 years and 83 years, respectively.
You can play around with an interactive
tool showing life expectancy by country from 1990 to 2013. There are also tools to visualize a variety
of other data, including cause of death and obesity statistics at the Institute
for Health Metrics and Evaluation's website.
Life expectancy worldwide, ranging from a low of 48 (colored red) in
Lesotho to a high of 83 in Japan (colored blue).
The top causes of lost health in 2013 were ischemic heart
disease, lower respiratory infections, stroke, low back and neck pain, and road
injuries. Gender played a role in causes
of health loss. For instance, depressive
disorders were responsible for substantially more lost health for females
compared to males, while road injuries were a top 5 cause of health loss for
males but did not enter into the top 10 for females.
The fastest growing cause of health loss between 1990 and
2013 was HIV/AIDS, rising by 341.5% over that period, although this conceals
significant progress made since 2005, resulting in a 23.9% drop since then. Ischemic heart disease, stroke, low back and
neck pain, road injuries, and COPD have all caused an increasing amount of
health loss since 1990, while diarrheal diseases, neonatal preterm birth
complications, and lower respiratory infections have been responsible for a decreasing
amount of health loss.
Finally, here are a few top 10 lists gleaned from the study:
Countries with highest healthy life expectancy, both
sexes, 2013
- Japan
- Singapore
- Andorra
- Iceland
- Cyprus
- Israel
- France
- Italy
- South Korea
- Canada
Countries with lowest healthy life expectancy, both
sexes, 2013
- Lesotho
- Swaziland
- Central African Republic
- Guinea-Bissau
- Zimbabwe
- Mozambique
- Afghanistan
- Chad
- South Sudan
- Zambia
Leading causes of DALYs (disability-adjusted life years) or health loss globally for both
sexes, 2013
- Ischemic heart disease
- Lower respiratory infection
- Stroke
- Low back and neck pain
- Road injuries
- Diarrheal diseases
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Neonatal preterm birth complications
- HIV/AIDS
- Malaria
| 
Re: Global Life Expectancy is Rising, But People are Living Longer with Illness and Disability
