A new study published on Monday in the independent scientific journal “The Lancet” examined the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global life expectancy, revealing a 1.6-year drop in life expectancy for each person on average, for the period 2020-2021.
According to the publication, life expectancy has declined over this period in the vast majority–84%– of the 200-plus countries and territories studied by the researchers, after having experienced an upward trend for the previous decades from 1950 to 2019.
The study explained that this outcome is resulting in an excess mortality of 15.9 million deaths, slightly surpassing WHO’s estimated 15 million.
The Covid pandemic produced one of the most significant population declines over the past half-century, even taking into account wars and natural disasters, according to the study’s author, Austin Schumacher, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
Despite the challenges of differentiating between Covid-19-related deaths and deaths attributed solely to pre-existing health constraints, the study revealed some positive news–particularly regarding the downward trend in infant mortality–with over 500,000 fewer deaths recorded in 2021 compared to 2019.
Another IHME researcher, Hmwe Hmwe Kyu, dubbed the progress “extraordinary” and stressed the significance of resolving health inequities between countries while focusing on pandemic prevention.