Global life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023, nearly returning to pre-pandemic peaks, while India recorded an average lifespan of 71 years. According to World Health Organization estimates, noncommunicable diseases now drive 74 percent of deaths worldwide, highlighting a widening gap between longevity and healthy life years.
Global Life Expectancy Rebounds Toward Pre-Pandemic Levels
Global health metrics show a notable recovery following the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Global life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2023, coming within a fraction of the 73.4 years recorded in 2019. That figure represents a significant rebound from the pandemic low of 71.5 years documented in 2021.
Yet that recovery in overall lifespan contrasts with a slower restoration of healthspan. Healthy life expectancy, which measures the average number of years a person can expect to live in full health, stood at 62.8 years in 2023. That figure remains 0.4 years below its pre-pandemic level, indicating that extra years of life are frequently accompanied by illness or disability.
“Living longer is one of the great achievements of public health,”
Dr Alain Labrique, Director of WHO’s Department of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI
“The next challenge is to ensure that those additional years are lived in good health, while health systems are equipped to respond to the changing needs of populations.”
Dr Alain Labrique, Director of WHO’s Department of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI
India Life Expectancy and Regional Comparisons in the WHO Data
Within the broader global picture, regional figures illustrate varied trajectories across South Asia and North America. India’s life expectancy at birth reached 71 years in 2023, positioning the country ahead of Pakistan at 68.2 years, but behind Bangladesh at 72.7 years. By comparison, life expectancy stood much higher in the United States at 78.5 years and in Canada at 81.4 years.
India experienced a sharp rebound over the post-pandemic period. Life expectancy in the country fell to 68.1 years in 2021 from 70.5 years in 2019, before climbing back to 70.5 years in 2022 and reaching 71 years in 2023. In just two years, the country regained 2.9 years of expected lifespan. In India, the number of healthy years people could expect to live advanced from 58.4 years in 2021 to 60.6 years in 2023, placing it merely 0.1 year higher than its 2019 mark.
Noncommunicable Diseases Dominate Global and Indian Mortality
The latest figures capture a profound global epidemiological transition. Noncommunicable diseases accounted for 74 percent of all deaths worldwide in 2023, a substantial increase from 58 percent in 2000. Eight of the world’s ten leading causes of death in 2023 were chronic conditions.
Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading global burden. Ischaemic heart disease alone caused approximately 9.5 million deaths and 210 million disability-adjusted life years in 2023.
India’s disease profile underwent a similar reversal.
- Noncommunicable diseases accounted for nearly 75 percent of the combined death rate from top causes in India by 2023.
- Communicable diseases dropped to 16 percent of that combined death rate.
- Injuries and other causes accounted for the remaining share.
Rising Burden of Dementia and Mental Health Conditions
Beyond cardiovascular conditions, chronic neurological and mental health ailments are claiming an increasingly prominent share of the global disease burden. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias climbed from the 19th leading cause of death globally in 2000 to the fifth in 2023.
Mental health disorders followed a similar upward trajectory between 2019 and 2023. The global age-standardised rate of healthy life lost rose by about 20 percent for depressive disorders and nearly 45 percent for anxiety disorders. An estimated 110 million years of healthy life were lost to premature death and disability in 2023 as a combined result of anxiety and depression.
Drug use disorders exhibited divergent regional paths between 2000 and 2023. The WHO Region of the Americas recorded the largest increases in the risk of mortality and healthy life loss, whereas the Western Pacific region saw substantial declines.
