People around the world lived on average to a ripe old age of 71.5 in 2013, more than six years longer than in 1990, thanks to falling death rates from cancer and heart disease in rich countries and better survival in poor countries from diarrhoea, tuberculosis and malaria.
An analysis from the 2013 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study shows global life expectancy rose by 5.8 years in men and 6.6 years in women between 1990 and 2013.
The increase was attributed to falling death rates from cancers (down by 15 per cent) and cardiovascular disease (down by 22 per cent) in high-income regions of the world.
In less affluent regions, it was attributed to rapidly declining death rates for diarrhoea, lower respiratory tract infections and neonatal disorders, the study published in British health journal The Lancet said.
Only one region, sub-Saharan Africa, did not benefit from the upward trend with deaths from HIV/AIDS resulting in a drop in average life expectancy of five years.
“The progress we are seeing against a variety of illnesses and injuries is good, even remarkable, but we can and must do even better,” lead author Dr Christopher Murray, professor of global health at the University of Washington, said.
The huge increase in collective action and funding given to the major infectious diseases such as diarrhoea, measles, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria has had a real impact.”
Dr Murray said some major chronic diseases have been neglected and are rising in importance as threats to life.
The study found that death rates from some major chronic conditions were on the rise, including liver cancer caused by hepatitis C (up 125 per cent since 1990), drug use disorders (up 63 per cent), chronic kidney disease (up 37 per cent), diabetes (up 9 per cent) and pancreatic cancer (up 7 per cent).
The study found 54.9 million people died in 2013 – up from 47.5 million in 1990 – in part due to global population growth – a change which has also shifted demographics towards an older population.
“People today are less likely than their parents to die from certain conditions, but there are more people of older ages throughout the world,” Dr Murray said.
“This is an encouraging trend as people are living longer.
“We just need to make sure we are making the right health policy decisions today to prepare for the health challenges and associated costs that are coming.”
The study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, also found that some low-income countries such as Nepal, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Niger, the Maldives, East Timor and Iran had seen exceptional gains over the past 23 years – with life expectancy in those countries rising by more than 12 years for both sexes.
In India too, good progress had been made on life expectancy, with a rise of almost seven years for men and just over ten years for women between 1990 and 2013.
In 2013, India accounted for 19 per cent, or 10.2 million, of the world’s deaths.
Study co-author Jeemon Panniyammakal, from the Public Health Foundation of India, said the country has made great strides in reducing both child and adult mortality since 1990.
“It’s very encouraging that adults and children in India are living longer and healthier lives,” Dr Panniyammakal said.
“But India’s growing influence on global health means we must do more to address the diseases that kill people prematurely.”
The study noted that suicide was a growing public health problem in India with half the world’s suicide deaths alone occurring in India or China.
Despite dramatic drops in under-five deaths from 7.6 million in 1990 to 3.7 million in 2013, the study also noted that lower respiratory tract infections, malaria, and diarrhoeal disease were still in the top five global causes of child deaths, killing almost two million children a year.
The GBD 2013 gives the most comprehensive and up-to-date estimates of the number of yearly deaths from 240 different causes in 188 countries over 23 years – from 1990 to 2013.
ABC/wires