Global life expectancy, which stood at 72. 8 years in 2019, “has slowed. . . due to the effect of the covid-19 pandemic” and fell to 71 years in 2021, according to the latest UN demographic report released on Monday. .
The report, “World Population Outlook 2022: Summary of Results,” shows that while covid wiped out some of the gains made in life expectancy at birth between 1990 and 2019, it advanced for nearly nine years in that period. By 2050, it is expected to succeed in 77. 2 years worldwide, he says.
In 2021, the report says, life expectancy is higher for women (73. 8 years) than for men (68. 4 years). “This merit of women’s survival is seen in virtually every region and country in the world. Female merit in life expectancy at birth ranged from 7 years in Latin America and the Caribbean to 2. 9 years in Australia and New Zealand,” the report says.
The report that the global gap in life expectancy at birth between men and women, which has shrunk for more than 3 decades in some regions, has narrowed from 5. 2 years in 2019 to 5. 4 years in 2021.
Among the other regions, the highest life expectancy at birth is in Australia and New Zealand (84. 2 years) and the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa (59. 7 years). Latin America and the Caribbean, and 77. 2 in Europe and North America.
The report highlights disparities in life expectancy between countries.
“In 2021, the gap between the country with the highest life expectancy at birth and the country with the lowest is 33. 4. Among countries with at least part of one million inhabitants in 2022, life expectancy at birth reached just about 85 years or more in 2021 in Australia, the Hong Kong special administrative regions and Macao of China and Japan. In contrast, life expectancy at birth is lowest in the Central African Republic, Chad, Lesotho and Nigeria with degrees under 54 in 2021,” the report says.
The report estimates that the gap between countries with the lowest life expectancy is expected to widen further.
“Over the next few decades, further increases in survival are expected to decrease, but not differences in life expectancy between countries and regions. . . By 2050, life expectancy at birth is expected to exceed 77. 2 years worldwide, with a gap of 31. 8 years remaining among the countries with the lowest and highest values,” the report says.
“Much of the gap between countries with the lowest degrees of life expectancy at birth is due to disparities in the under-five mortality rate, which represents the likelihood of dying between birth and five years. . . However, a child born to under-fives Saharan Africa in 2021 is 20 times more likely to die before turning 5 than a child born in Australia and New Zealand,” the report says.