Global life expectancy has almost returned to pre-Covid-19 levels, but recovery in the number of years people live in good health remains slower, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
According to the WHO’s latest Global Health Estimates, global life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023, compared with 73.4 years in 2019 before the pandemic.
Life expectancy fell sharply during the Covid-19 crisis, reaching 71.5 years in 2021.
“Living longer is one of the great achievements of public health,” said Alain Labrique, head of the WHO’s data department.
“The next challenge is to ensure that those additional years are lived in good health, while health systems adapt to respond to the changing needs of populations.”
Healthy life expectancy recovers more slowly
The WHO said healthy life expectancy has recovered more slowly following the pandemic.
People could expect to live 62.8 years in good health in 2023, which was 0.4 years below the 2019 level.
The agency also reported a sharp rise in health losses linked to anxiety and depression, while deaths from dementia have tripled since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Between 2000 and 2023, the WHO Americas region recorded the largest increases in risk of mortality and healthy life loss, while the Western Pacific region recorded substantial declines.
Heart disease remains leading killer
The WHO estimated that 61 million people died worldwide in 2023, with the 10 leading causes accounting for about 33 million deaths.
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) made up eight of the 10 leading causes of death.
NCDs now account for 74 percent of global deaths, up from 58 percent in 2000, when the Global Health Estimates study began.
Ischaemic heart disease remained the world’s biggest killer, accounting for 16 percent of all deaths.
Deaths from the disease rose from 3 million in 2000 to 9.5 million in 2023, representing the largest increase among the leading causes of death.
Stroke was the second leading cause of death, accounting for approximately 11 percent of global deaths, followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which accounted for about six percent.
Lower respiratory infections ranked fourth and remained the world’s deadliest communicable disease.
Dementia deaths rise as Covid-19 falls
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia ranked fifth among the leading causes of death in 2023, claiming an estimated 2.1 million lives.
Covid-19, meanwhile, dropped out of the global top 10 for the first time since the pandemic began.
The disease was directly responsible for an estimated 5.3 million deaths in 2020, when it ranked third, and 9.4 million deaths in 2021, when it was the leading cause of death.
By 2023, directly attributable Covid-19 deaths had fallen to about 900,000, making it the world’s 14th leading cause of death.
Deaths from HIV and AIDS have also declined significantly, falling by 62 percent since 2020.
HIV/AIDS moved from being the world’s seventh leading cause of death in 2000 to 22nd place in 2023.
