As of: March 16, 2024, 4:49 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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Nothing has had as much of an impact on people's life expectancy over the past 50 years as the coronavirus.
This emerges from a US study.
The researchers concluded that Covid was “destructive”.
Washington DC - In the first two Corona years of 2020 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.6 years - reversing a historical trend.
This is the result of a study by a team of researchers at the University of Washington, which was published on Tuesday in the medical journal
The Lancet
.
The global death rate increased by 5.1 percent in 2020 and 2021.
Previously, it had been declining for almost 70 years - between 1950 and 2019.
Study: Corona pandemic had more serious consequences than conflicts and natural disasters
The coronavirus had serious consequences on people's health.
“For adults all over the world, the corona pandemic had more severe consequences than any other event in half a century, including conflicts and natural disasters,” said researcher Austin Schumacher, who was a leading participant in the study.
84 percent of the 204 countries and areas examined recorded a falling life expectancy in the Corona years.
Life expectancy fell the most in Mexico City, Peru and Bolivia.
According to the scientists, this makes the “destructive” effects of new viruses clear.
People sit on benches at a safe distance during the corona pandemic (Yongsan, South Korea, September 21, 2020).
© picture alliance/dpa/SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire |
Simon Shin
The consequences of the virus became particularly clear in the so-called excess mortality.
According to the study, this was 15.9 million deaths - around one million higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) had previously estimated.
The virus was particularly dangerous for the old or previously ill parts of the population.
Mortality among children under five also fell during Corona, albeit more slowly than in previous years.
Humanity must prepare for “the next pandemic” and combat “the great inequalities in health care between countries,” warned researcher Hmwe Hmwe Kyu from the University of Washington, who was involved in the study.
About the study
The study “Global age-sex-specific mortality, life expectancy, and population estimates in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1950–2021, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic” by the authors Austin E Schumacher, Hmwe Hmwe Kyu , Amirali Aali, Cristiana Abbafati et al.
from the University of Washington was evaluated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and appeared in the medical journal
The Lancet
on March 11, 2024 .
A total of 22,223 data sources from 204 countries and territories were examined.
Corona pandemic increased differences between poor and rich countries
Meanwhile, global living conditions have returned to pre-coronavirus levels, a report on the UN Development Program UNDP's Human Development Index showed.
The study published on Wednesday looked at living standards, life expectancy and education.
However, the pandemic has widened the gap between rich and poor countries, it said.
“What we see here is that the poorest and most vulnerable sections of our society are being left behind,” said UNDP representative Pedro Conceição, responsible for the report.
More than half of the world's least developed countries have not yet been able to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
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Overall, despite the Corona setback, there is a positive trend: over the past 70 years, average life expectancy has increased worldwide.
While the global average age of people was 49 in 1950, in 2021 they reached the average age of 72 years.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, life expectancy in Germany is currently 83.2 years for girls and 78.3 years for boys.
And more good news: the vaccination was at least able to contain the consequences of the virus.
According to a study by Imperial College in London, the Covid vaccination saved 20 million lives worldwide in one year alone.
(bme with dpa/AFP)