The World Is Living Longer, but Healthy Years Haven't Caught Up Yet

Keypoints:

• Global life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023, close to the 73.4 years of 2019
• Healthy life expectancy stands at 62.8 years, still 0.4 years below 2019
• Noncommunicable diseases caused 74% of deaths in 2023, up from 58% in 2000
• Dementia rose from the 19th to the 5th leading cause of death since 2000
• Anxiety disorders saw a nearly 45% rise in disease burden between 2019 and 2023

The World Health Organization (WHO) released its latest Global Health Estimates on 2 October, covering trends in life expectancy, causes of death and disease burden between 2000 and 2023. Global life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023, within a tenth of a year of the 73.4 years recorded in 2019. On that measure, the pandemic dip is nearly erased.

Healthy life expectancy, which counts years lived in good health, is recovering more slowly. It reached 62.8 years in 2023, still 0.4 years below its 2019 level. That gap between total years and healthy years is where health systems feel the strain.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) caused 74% of deaths worldwide in 2023, compared with 58% in 2000. Eight of the ten leading causes of death were NCDs. For the first time, communicable diseases accounted for less than half of all deaths in low-income countries. A pattern once tied to wealthier nations is now showing up everywhere.

Heart disease still carries the heaviest load. Ischaemic heart disease alone caused about 9.5 million deaths in 2023 and 210 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), a measure of healthy years lost. Many regions have made progress since 2000, but individual risk rose in the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia Regions.

Other chronic conditions are climbing fast. The risk of dying from diabetes has risen substantially since 2000, particularly in South-East Asia. That WHO region includes Bangladesh. Dementia became the fifth leading cause of death globally in 2023, compared with 19th in 2000, and deaths from it tripled.

Mental health and drug use add to the picture. Between 2019 and 2023, the age-standardized DALY rate rose by about 20% for depressive disorders and nearly 45% for anxiety disorders, together costing an estimated 110 million years of healthy life in 2023. For drug use disorders, the Region of the Americas saw the largest increases in mortality risk and healthy life loss between 2000 and 2023, while the Western Pacific saw substantial declines.

Dr Alain Labrique, Director of WHO's Department of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI, said the next challenge is to make sure the added years are lived in good health, with health systems ready for changing needs. The estimates are meant to help countries set health policies and priorities.

The next health goal is no longer only to add years. It is to make sure those years are worth having.