COVID-19 Drives Decline in Life Expectancy, WHO Warns
The World Health Organization’s World Health Statistics Report 2025 reveals a 1.8-year decline in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, the steepest drop in recent history, erasing a decade of health progress. The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with increased anxiety and depression, reduced healthy life expectancy by six weeks, offsetting gains in managing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
Progress toward the WHO’s Triple Billion targets is uneven. While 1.4 billion more people lived healthier lives by 2024, surpassing the target, only 431 million gained access to essential health services, and 637 million were better protected from emergencies, missing key goals. Maternal and child mortality reductions have stalled, risking 700,000 additional maternal and 8 million child deaths by 2030 without urgent action.
NCDs, such as heart disease and cancer, now cause over half of deaths in people under 70, driven by tobacco use, poor hypertension management, and air pollution. The world is off track to reduce premature NCD mortality by one-third by 2030. Other challenges include a projected 11.1 million health worker shortfall, resurging malaria, and incomplete recovery of childhood vaccination rates.
Disruptions in international aid threaten progress, particularly in low-income countries. Despite declines in tobacco and alcohol use and improvements in air quality and sanitation, WHO calls for sustained financing and global coordination to address malnutrition, antimicrobial resistance, and unsafe living conditions to meet 2030 health targets.