Global life expectancy fell by 1.6 years during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study published on Tuesday in the medical journal The Lancet shows.
The study, described as the most comprehensive look at the pandemic’s toll on human health so far, found almost every country in the world experienced sharp drops in life expectancy in 2020 and 2021, reversing the long-standing trend of people living longer.
“For adults worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a more profound impact than any event seen in half a century, including conflicts and natural disasters,” the report’s co-first author, University of Washington acting assistant professor Austin E Schumacher, said.
According to the report, “Life expectancy declined in 84 percent of countries and territories during this pandemic, demonstrating the devastating potential impacts of novel pathogens.”
Life expectancy at birth has increased steadily around the world since 1950 with a few exceptions, such as during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.
“In 2020 and 2021, however, these trends reversed,” the report stated. “Between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy declined by 1.6 years.”
Globally, life expectancy dropped from 73.3 years in 2019 before the pandemic to 71.7 in 2021. For women, life expectancy fell from 76 years to 74.8 years. For men, life expectancy dropped from 70.8 years to 69 years.
In the United States, where more than onemillion people are thought to have died due to COVID-19, life expectancy fell from 79.1 years in 2019 to 77.1 years in 2021.
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Life expectancy in poorer countries hit hardest by COVID
It is one of the first studies to fully evaluate demographic trends, using data about age and other factors, to analyze mortality rates and how these impacted COVID-19 outcomes.
“Age-standardised rates demonstrated the pandemic was disproportionately severe in countries within sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, south Asia, and Latin America,” the report said.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, life expectancy fell by as much as 3.7 years.
The report noted an “unprecedented increase” in the number of global deaths among people aged 25 years and older between 2020 and 2021.
“Increases in mortality rates in populations aged 25 years and older were observed on a scale not seen in the previous 70 years,” the report said.
However, mortality in children under five years old was largely unchanged by the pandemic, with the number of deaths actually decreasing by 7 percent from 2019 to 2021.
The study also looked at excess deaths linked to COVID-19 and estimated the pandemic caused global mortality to have increased in people aged over fifteen years old.
Between 2019 and 2021, global mortality rose by 22 percent in men aged over fifteen years, and by 17 percent in women.
When assessing deaths caused by COVID-19, it included those who died due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as indirect deaths associated with other social, economic, or behavioral changes linked to the pandemic, such as delays in seeking healthcare.
In total, around 15.9 million deaths were attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Researchers came to this number based on an analysis of each country’s excess deaths, which is the difference between the number of deaths in 2020 and 2021 compared to what would be expected based on previous trends.
An estimated 131 million people died during the pandemic of all causes.
Related: German Man Vaccinated Against Covid 217 Times
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