FOR decades, longer life expectancy has been celebrated as one of humanity’s greatest achievements. But a new global study has found that millions of people are surviving longer only to spend more years living with chronic illness, pain and disability.
The study, published in The Lancet Public Health, found that although life expectancy has risen dramatically over the past three decades, healthy life expectancy has failed to keep pace, leaving people around the world spending an increasing share of their lives in poor health.
Based on data from 204 countries and territories, the study shows that the average morbidity gap—the number of years people live in poor health before they die—has widened from 8.8 years in 1990 to 10.7 years in 2023.
According to the findings, people today spend an average of 14.5% of their lives living with disease or disability, compared with 13.6% just over three decades ago. Researchers
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