We're living longer: 6 years more than in 1990
People all over the world are living longer than ever, according to a new study that finds the average lifespan extends six years beyond what it was a quarter-century ago.
In the United States, life expectancy rose more than 3 years from 1990 to 2013. For a girl born this year, life expectancy is 81.4 years; for a boy, 76.3 years. That puts American women in 35th place and men in 39th across the globe, behind most of Western Europe and wealthy countries in Asia and the Middle East, according to the study, published in the current issue of The Lancet medical journal.
There doesn't seem to be an upper limit, though life expectancies at the high end have grown more slowly, said Christopher Murray, who led the research and runs the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. "We haven't yet got any indication that lifespan can't keep growing, at least for a while."
The gender gap, Murray said, is largely due to lifestyle factors, not biology. Men smoke and drink more than women and take more risks, he said.
Since 1990, roadway accidents have fallen as a cause of death in the USA, as has violence, while Alzheimer's, diabetes and kidney disease are climbing, the study found.
Elsewhere, violence is the leading cause of premature death in Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Panama. Road injuries are a major cause of death in parts of the Middle East and in China, where smoking and air pollution account for most of the remaining premature deaths. Alcohol and drug use are leading causes of death around the world, and HIV/AIDS remains a major killer.
Identifying those factors can be useful for directing public policy efforts, Murray said.
Longer life expectancy is a great thing for individuals but poses problems for society, said Igor Rudan, a global health expert at the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the study but wrote a commentary on it for The Lancet. As older people stay in the workforce longer, they prevent young people from getting jobs – as has happened in southern Europe, where the unemployment rate for the young hovers around 50%, he said. And society may not be able to afford pensions for people who live longer than budgeters planned for decades ago.
"Our individual interest is going to start conflicting with our collective interests in a big way," said Rudan, also co-editor of the Journal of Global Health. He noted that the world's population has more than doubled since he was born 43 years ago.
The extension of lifespans around the world – particularly in countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia and Nepal, which saw some of the biggest increases – shows the power of public action, said Sandro Galea, chairman of the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the incoming dean of Boston University's School of Public Health.
"There is potential to save many more lives over the next 20 years and to increase life expectancy even more," said Galea, who was not involved in the research. "In many respects, we know the things we need to do."