Global life expectancy has almost fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new Global Health Estimates published by the World Health Organization on 2 October 2026.
Key facts
Life expectancy at birth was 73.3 years in 2023, compared with 73.4 years in 2019.
Healthy life expectancy, the years lived in good health, reached 62.8 years, still 0.4 years below 2019.
For the first time, infectious diseases caused fewer than half of all deaths in low-income countries in 2023.
"Living longer is one of the great achievements of public health," said WHO's Dr Alain Labrique.
Why it matters
The recovery shows how resilient global health can be, and the fall in infectious-disease deaths in the poorest countries reflects decades of progress on vaccines, clean water and treatment.
Worth noting
The data run only to 2023. Noncommunicable diseases now cause 74% of deaths worldwide, dementia has risen to become the fifth leading cause of death, and the burden of depression and anxiety has grown since 2019.