• Heart disease, diabetes, dementia lead global causes death

Global life expectancy has rebounded to almost its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level, although gains in healthy life expectancy have lagged behind, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The UN health agency said its latest Global Health Estimates showed that global life expectancy rose to 73.3 years in 2023, just 0.1 years below the 73.4 years recorded in 2019, before the pandemic disrupted health systems and increased mortality worldwide.

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“Living longer is one of the great achievements of public health,” said Dr. Alain Labrique, Director of WHO’s Department of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI.

The estimates, covering deaths and disability across countries and regions between 2000 and 2023, draw on national vital registration data, WHO technical programmes and estimates developed with UN partner organisations.

However, WHO said the recovery in healthy life expectancy — the number of years people can expect to live in good health — has been slower. Healthy life expectancy reached 62.8 years in 2023, remaining 0.4 years below its 2019 level.

“The next challenge is to ensure that those additional years are lived in good health, while health systems are equipped to respond to the changing needs of populations,” Labrique said.

The estimates also reveal a continuing transformation in the global pattern of disease and mortality, with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) accounting for an increasingly large share of deaths.

For the first time in 2023, communicable diseases accounted for less than half of all deaths in low-income countries, marking another step in what WHO describes as the global epidemiological transition.

Globally, NCDs accounted for 74 per cent of all deaths in 2023, compared with 58 per cent in 2000. Eight of the 10 leading causes of death worldwide were NCDs.

Cardiovascular diseases remained the leading cause of death and disease burden globally. Ischaemic heart disease alone was responsible for approximately 9.5 million deaths in 2023 and the loss of about 210 million years of healthy life.

Although many parts of the world have made substantial progress in reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease since 2000, WHO said individual risk increased in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions, underscoring persistent inequalities in health outcomes.

Other chronic conditions are also assuming greater importance. Dementia climbed from the 19th leading cause of death globally in 2000 to the fifth in 2023, with deaths from the condition tripling over the period.

The risk of dying from diabetes has also increased substantially since 2000, particularly in South-East Asia.

The estimates further point to growing mental health challenges. Between 2019 and 2023, the global age-standardised rate of healthy life lost to depressive disorders increased by about 20 per cent, while the corresponding burden from anxiety disorders rose by nearly 45 per cent.

Patterns in drug use disorders varied significantly by region. The Americas recorded the largest increases in the risk of death and healthy life lost from drug use disorders between 2000 and 2023, while the Western Pacific region recorded substantial declines.

Labrique said the significance of the latest estimates extended beyond the headline figures, as the data could help governments understand changing patterns of disease and make more informed decisions on health priorities.

“The value of these estimates is not only in the numbers themselves,” he said. “By showing how causes of death and disease burden are changing over time and across populations, they give countries evidence to help shape health policies and priorities.”