Global life expectancy nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, WHO reports

Global life expectancy nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2023, reaching 73.3 years, close to the 73.4 years recorded in 2019, according to a World Health Organization report released Friday. However, healthy life expectancy is recovering more slowly. The coronavirus crisis had reduced global life expectancy to 71.5 years in 2021. Healthy life expectancy stood at 62.8 years in 2023, still 0.4 years below the 2019 level, with dementia deaths tripling and anxiety-related health loss rising sharply since the pandemic. Noncommunicable diseases now account for 74% of global deaths, up from 58% in 2000, with ischemic heart disease as the leading killer. COVID-19 dropped out of the top 10 causes of death for the first time since the pandemic began.