Global Life Expectancy To Rise By 4 Years By 2050

Life expectancy around the world is expected to increase by nearly 5 years among men and more than 4 years among women during the next three decades, researchers predict, Dennis Thompson reported for United Press International (UPI).

The trend is largely driven by public health measures that have improved the prevention, detection, and treatment of heart disease, COVID-19, and a range of health problems related to infectious disease, childbirth, and nutrition.

These increases are expected to be in countries where life expectancy typically is shorter, according to the report published in The Lancet.

The trend is largely driven by public health measures that have improved prevention, detection, and treatment of heart disease, COVID-19, and a range of health problems related to infectious disease, childbirth, and nutrition, researchers said.

However, they also detected a shift occurring in the diseases that influence life expectancy.

Chronic ailments like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and lung disease are expected to play a more powerful role than infectious diseases in how long people live, researchers said.

As a result, risk factors like obesity, high blood pressure, poor diet, lack of exercise, and smoking will have the greatest impact on disease and life expectancy in the next generation, HealthDay also reported.

In fact, the number of years lost to poor health and early death from such metabolic risk factors has increased by 50% since 2000, the researchers found.