The COVID-19 pandemic caused global life expectancy to fall by almost two years between 2019 and 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed on Friday, reversing a decade of progress.
Between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years to 71.4 years, the same level as in 2012, according to the WHO’s annual report on global health statistics.
“That means we really need to […] ensure that a stable environment is maintained so that all populations, wherever they are, can prosper,” underlined the DD Samira Asma, Assistant Director-General of the WHO, at a press conference.
Likewise, the life expectancy that a person can expect in good health decreased by 1.5 years to reach 61.9 years in 2021, the 2012 level.
“In just two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has erased a decade of progress in life expectancy,” said WHO Director-General Dr.r Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“This is why the new agreement on pandemics” that WHO member countries are negotiating “is so important,” he said.
Such a treaty can serve, he said, “not only to strengthen global health security, but also to protect long-term investments in health and promote equity within and between countries”.
Life expectancy has not fallen equally across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed millions of lives.
According to a WHO statement, regions in the Americas and Southeast Asia have been hardest hit, with life expectancy falling by around 3 years and life expectancy in good health for 2.5 years between 2019 and 2021.
In contrast, the Western Pacific region was the least affected, with declines of less than 0.1 year in life expectancy and 0.2 year in healthy life expectancy, over the same period.