WHO: Large gains in life expectancy

People everywhere are living longer, according to the World Health Statistics 2014 published on Thursday.

According to the report by the World Health Organization (WHO), based on global averages, a girl who was born in 2012 could expect to live to around 73 years, and a boy to the age of 68.

The report, which was made available to the Ghana News Agency, signed by Fadéla Chaib, WHO Communications Officer on Thursday, said this is six years longer than the average global life expectancy for a child born in 1990.

The annual statistics report by WHO shows that low-income countries had made the greatest progress, with an average increase in life expectancy by 9 years from 1990 to 2012.

The top six countries where life expectancy increased the most were Liberia, which saw a 20-year increase (from 42 years in 1990 to 62 years in 2012) followed by Ethiopia (from 45 to 64 years), Maldives (58 to 77 years), Cambodia (54 to 72 years), Timor-Leste (50 to 66 years) and Rwanda (48 to 65 years).

“An important reason why global life expectancy has improved so much is that fewer children are dying before their fifth birthday,” said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General.

“But there is still a major rich-poor divide: people in high-income countries continue to have a much better chance of living longer than people in low-income countries.”

The report said a boy born in 2012 in a high-income country could expect to live to the age of around 76, 16 years longer than a boy born in a low-income country (age 60).

For girls, the report said the difference is even wider; a gap of 19 years separates life expectancy in high-income (82 years) and low-income countries (63 years).

It observed that wherever they live in the world, women live longer than men, declaring that the gap between male and female life expectancy is greater in high-income countries where women live around six years longer than men.

It said in low-income countries, the difference is around three years, whereas women in Japan have the longest life expectancy in the world at 87 years, followed by Spain and Switzerland with 85 years, and Singapore with 84 years.

The report said female life expectancy in all the top 10 countries was 84 years or longer, while, life expectancy among men is 80 years or more in nine countries, with the longest male life expectancy in Iceland with 81 years, Switzerland and Australia with 80 years.

“In high-income countries, much of the gain in life expectancy is due to success in tackling non-communicable diseases,” said Dr Ties Boerma, Director of the Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems at the WHO.

“Fewer men and women are dying before they get to their 60th birthday from heart disease and stroke. Richer countries have become better at monitoring and managing high blood pressure for example.”

According to the report, declining tobacco use is also a key factor in helping people live longer in several countries.

It said at the other end of the scale, life expectancy for both men and women is still less than 55 years in nine sub-Saharan African countries – Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

It said the top three causes of years of life lost due to premature death are coronary heart disease, lower respiratory infections (such as pneumonia) and stroke.

It also noted that most deaths among under-fives occur among children born prematurely (17.3 per cent); whereas pneumonia is responsible for the second highest number of deaths (15.2 per cent).