Global life expectancy has 'increased by 6 years since 1990'
December 18, 2014
People around the world can expect to live an average six years longer today than they did in 1990, research has shown.

Global life expectancy at birth rose by 5.8 years for men and 6.6 for women between 1990 and 2013, according to new findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study.

Of all the regions in the world, southern Africa alone experienced the opposite trend due to the scourge of HIV/Aids. There, lifespans have shortened by more than five years.

But some low-income countries have made exceptional gains, experts found. In Nepal, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Niger, the Maldives, Timor-Leste and Iran, life expectancy increased by more than 12 years in the last two decades.

Men in the UK increased their life expectancy by the global average, with lifespan at birth increasing from 72.9 to 79.1 years between 1990 and 2013.

But UK women saw a below-average 4.4 year increase from 78.4 to 82.8 years.

Certain causes of death were shown to have claimed more lives around the world since 1990. They included liver cancer, heart rhythm disorders, drug use conditions, chronic kidney disease, sickle cell disease, diabetes and pancreatic cancer.

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Posted by Ken at 1:43 AM