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Global life expectancy to increase by nearly 5 years by 2050: study

  • Biggest increases are likely in countries where the existing estimates are lower
  • While people will live longer, they are likely to experience more years in poor health

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Global life expectancy is forecast to increase from 73.6 years of age in 2022 to around 78.1 years of age in 2050. Photo: Shutterstock

Life expectancy across the world is expected to increase by almost five years by 2050, new findings suggest.

The forecast indicates that between 2022 and 2050 the life expectancy for men is expected to increase from 71.1 years to 76 years, and from 76.2 years to 80.5 years for women.

According to the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2021, countries where life expectancy is currently lower are expected to see the largest increases.

The trend is largely driven by public health measures that have prevented, and improved survival rates from, cardiovascular diseases, Covid-19, and a range of communicable diseases and also from maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNs), the experts say.

Dr Chris Murray, chairman of Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington in the United States, and director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), said: “In addition to an increase in life expectancy overall, we have found that the disparity in life expectancy across geographies will lessen.

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