Life expectancy almost back to pre-Covid levels, says WHO

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) -- Global life expectancy is close to the levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the outlook for years lived in good health is recovering more slowly, the WHO said Friday.

Life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023 -- close to the 73.4 years recorded in 2019 before the pandemic struck, the World Health Organization said in its annual Global Health Estimates (GHE) report.

The coronavirus crisis plunged global life expectancy down to 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."

The UN agency said healthy life expectancy had recovered from the pandemic more slowly, standing at 62.8 years in 2023 -- 0.4 years below the 2019 level.

Meanwhile dementia deaths have tripled and anxiety- and depression-related health loss has risen sharply 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 saw substantial declines.

- Biggest causes of death - Of the 61 million deaths worldwide in 2023, the 10 leading causes accounted for 33 million.

Noncommunicable diseases represented eight of the 10 leading causes; NCDs now account for 74 percent of global deaths, up from 58 percent in 2000, when the GHE study began.

The world's biggest killer is ischaemic heart disease, responsible for 16 percent of deaths. It has seen the largest increase in deaths between 2000 and 2023, up from 3.0 million to 9.5 million.

Stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were the second and third leading causes of death in 2023, responsible for approximately 11 percent and six percent of total deaths respectively.

Lower respiratory infections, the world's most deadly communicable disease, came fourth.

Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia came fifth in 2023, killing 2.1 million people.

Covid-19 dropped out of the top 10 leading causes of death for the first time since the pandemic exploded.

It was directly responsible for an estimated 5.3 million deaths (third place) in 2020 and 9.4 million (first) in 2021.

It fell to 900,000 directly attributable deaths in 2023, making it the 14th leading cause of death.

Deaths from HIV and AIDS have fallen by 62 percent since 2020, moving from the world's seventh leading cause of death in 2000 to 22nd place in 2023.