New Zealand has the fourth-largest gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, according to a newly released global study.
The latest findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, published online by The Lancet Public Health this week, examine life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2023.
“As survival improves globally, the central public health challenge increasingly shifts from extending life to extending healthy lifespan,” say the University of Washington, Seattle-led research team.
Gains in life expectancy in the past three decades have not been matched by gains in healthspan, the researchers say, with most people now spending a decade or more of their life in poor health.
Globally, people in 2023 were estimated to spend an average of 14.5 per cent of their lives – or 10.7 years – in poor health, compared with 13.6 per cent, or 8.8 years, in 1990.
People in high-income countries, which generally have the longest life expectancies, also spent more years in poor health.
The United States had the largest morbidity gap, at an average of 14 years, followed by Australia at 13.9 years, Canada at 13.7 years, New Zealand at 13.1 years and the Netherlands at 12.9 years.