On video: China opened its borders to the world/Reuters
The coronavirus caused the average life expectancy of people around the world to drop by 1.6 years during the first two years of the pandemic, a more dramatic drop than previously thought, a major study has revealed.
That marked a sharp turnaround during a decades-long rise in global life expectancy, according to hundreds of researchers who sifted through the data for the American Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
"For adults around the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a more profound impact than any event seen in half a century, including conflicts and natural disasters," said Austin Schumacher, an IHME researcher and lead author of the study published in The Lancet journal.
During 2020-2021, life expectancy fell in 84 percent of the 204 countries and territories analyzed, "illustrating the potentially devastating effects" of new viruses, the statement said.
The death rate for people over the age of 15 increased by 22% for men and 17% for women during this period, the researchers estimated.
Mexico City, Peru and Bolivia were some of the places where life expectancy fell the most.
But there was some good news in the updated estimates of the IHME Global Burden of Disease Study.
Half a million fewer children under the age of five died in 2021 compared to 2019, continuing a long-term decline in child mortality.
China opened borders after three years of Corona/Reuters
16 million deaths related to Corona
So far, according to the study's data, the coronavirus is responsible for 15.9 million excess deaths during 2020-2021, either directly from the virus or indirectly due to pandemic-related disruptions.
This is a million more deaths than previously estimated by the World Health Organization.
Excess deaths are calculated by comparing the total number of deaths to the number that would have been expected if there had been no epidemic.
Barbados, New Zealand and Antigua and Barbuda were among the countries with the lowest rate of excess deaths during the epidemic, reflecting in part how isolated islands were often spared the full burden of the epidemic.
More on the same topic:
death
Life Expectancy
Corona