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COVID-19 has caused the biggest decrease in life expectancy, says study

WION Web Team
NEW DELHIUpdated: Sep 27, 2021, 09:39 AM IST
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Photograph:(The New York Times)

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Data from most of the 29 countries, mostly from Europe, the US and Chile, was analysed by scientists. It recorded reductions in life expectancy last year and at a scale that wiped out years of progress

As per a new study, the ongoing pandemic has caused the biggest decrease in life expectancy in western Europe since the second world war.

Data from most of the 29 countries, mostly from Europe, the US and Chile, was analysed by scientists. It recorded reductions in life expectancy last year and at a scale that wiped out years of progress.

The data reveals that the biggest declines in life expectancy were among males in the US, with a decline of 2.2 years relative to 2019 levels, followed by Lithuanian males.

Dr José Manuel Aburto, a co-lead author of the study, was quoted by The Guardian as saying, "For western European countries such as Spain, England and Wales, Italy, Belgium, among others, the last time such large magnitudes of declines in life expectancy at birth were observed in a single year was during the second world war.”

The findings were concluded after an analysis of the 29 countries for which official death registrations for last year had been published. 

A total of 27 experienced reductions in life expectancy.

Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics estimated that life expectancy for men in the UK had fallen for the first time in 40 years. 

A boy born between 2018 and 2020 is expected to live until he is 79, down from 79.2 for the period of 2015-17.

As per the report, males experienced larger life expectancy declines than females across most of the 29 countries. These reductions across different countries were attributable to deaths caused by COVID-19.