Global life expectancy set to rise 4.9 years in men and 4.2 years in women by 2050.
Global life expectancy will increase by 4.9 years in males and 4.2 years in females between 2022 and 2050 due to public health measures preventing and improving survival rates from various diseases.
A new report in The Lancet has forecasted a global increase in life expectancy in the next 25 years.
- Global life expectancy is expected to increase by 4.9 years in males and 4.2 years in females between 2022 and 2050.
- The largest increases are forecasted for countries with lower life expectancy, leading to a convergence of increased life expectancy across geographies.
- The trend is largely driven by public health measures that have prevented and improved survival rates from cardiovascular diseases, COVID-19, and other communicable diseases.
- The shift in disease burden to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) will have the greatest impact on disease burden of the next generation.
- Global life expectancy is forecasted to increase from 73.6 years of age in 2022 to 78.1 years of age in 2050, a 4.5-year increase.
- Global healthy life expectancy (HALE) will increase from 64.8 years in 2022 to 67.4 years in 2050, a 2.6-year increase.
- The disparity in life expectancy across geographies is expected to lessen.
- Policy interventions aimed at preventing and mitigating behavioral and metabolic risk factors are seen as the biggest opportunity to reduce the global disease burden.
- Alternative scenarios show large differences in global disability-adjusted life years (DALY) burden if different public health interventions could eliminate exposure to several key risk factor groups by 2050.
- The “Improved Behavioral and Metabolic Risks” scenario shows a 13.3% reduction in disease burden (number of DALYs) in 2050 compared with the reference scenario.
- Scenarios focused on safer environments and improved childhood nutrition and vaccination also show reductions in disease burden beyond the reference forecast.