Global life expectancy has nearly returned to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, but gains in healthy life expectancy have recovered more slowly, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO said in its annual Global Health Estimates report that global life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023, compared with 73.4 years in 2019 before the pandemic.
Life expectancy fell to 71.5 years in 2021 during the height of the Covid-19 crisis.
“Living longer is one of the great achievements of public health,” said Alain Labrique, head of the WHO’s data department.
He said the next challenge was ensuring that people spent more of their additional years in good health while health systems adapted to changing population needs.
According to the WHO, healthy life expectancy stood at 62.8 years in 2023, 0.4 years below the 2019 level, indicating a slower recovery from the pandemic.
The agency also reported a sharp rise in dementia deaths and health losses linked to anxiety and depression since the pandemic.
Between 2000 and 2023, the WHO Americas region recorded the largest increases in mortality risk and healthy life loss, while the Western Pacific region recorded substantial declines.
Heart Disease Remains Leading Cause of Death
The WHO estimated that 61 million people died worldwide in 2023, with the 10 leading causes accounting for about 33 million deaths.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for eight of the 10 leading causes of death and were responsible for 74 per cent of all deaths, up from 58 per cent in 2000.
Ischaemic heart disease remained the world’s leading cause of death, accounting for 16 per cent of global deaths. Deaths from the disease increased from about three million in 2000 to 9.5 million in 2023.
Stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were the second and third leading causes of death, accounting for about 11 per cent and six per cent of global deaths respectively.
Lower respiratory infections, the leading communicable cause of death, ranked fourth, while Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia ranked fifth, accounting for about 2.1 million deaths.
Covid-19 dropped out of the top 10 leading causes of death in 2023 for the first time since the pandemic began. It was linked directly to an estimated 5.3 million deaths in 2020 and 9.4 million in 2021, before falling to about 900,000 deaths in 2023, when it ranked 14th.
Deaths from HIV/AIDS have also declined by 62 per cent since 2020. The disease fell from the seventh leading cause of death globally in 2000 to 22nd in 2023.
