Global life expectancy has increased dramatically over the past century, with Australia among the best performing countries. But during the last two decades, some high-income countries have reported stagnation or even declining life expectancy , particularly the United States and the United Kingdom . Could this indicate a broader decline in health advancements in English-speaking countries? Our new study compared life expectancy between English-speaking countries and against other high-income countries.
We found Australians born between 1930 and 1969 continue to do exceptionally well for life expectancy. But the picture for those under 50 is not so rosy – life expectancy is stagnating for that younger group. Why measure life expectancy? Life expectancy is a valuable and widely used measure to examine health trends and patterns over time and compare different places or population groups.
It estimates the average number of years a person would be expected to live. This is calculated using the mortality – or death rates – across different age groups within a specific period. When death rates fall, life expectancy rises, and vice versa.
Not only does life expectancy tell us about mortality in a population, it is indirectly a measure of overall population health. Most leading causes of death in high-income countries are chronic diseases . These typically affect the health of a person for multiple years before their death.
Stagnations or reversals in life expectancy can be wa.
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