IN BRIEF
WHO estimates global life expectancy at 73.3 years in 2023, just 0.1 years below 2019.
Healthy life expectancy recovered to 62.8 years but remained 0.4 years below its 2019 level.
This is an estimated population-level recovery in the Global Health Estimates, not evidence that every country recovered equally.
WHY IT MATTERS
The pandemic interrupted a long improvement in global longevity. The new estimate shows that, by 2023, most of that loss had been recovered at the global level.
The gap between total lifespan and healthy years also shows that living longer again is not yet the same as returning to the same level of health.
WHAT IS NOW POSSIBLE
The global longevity indicator moved from a pandemic-era setback back to within 0.1 year of its 2019 level, although healthy life expectancy had not fully recovered.
WHAT MADE IT POSSIBLE
WHO's Global Health Estimates combine national death registration, WHO technical programme estimates, UN and inter-agency data, Global Burden of Disease inputs and other studies to build comparable time series across countries and years.
THE STORY
Globally, the large pandemic-era setback in longevity appears to have been almost erased. WHO's new Global Health Estimates put life expectancy at birth in 2023 at 73.3 years, effectively back to the 73.4 years estimated for 2019.
The recovery is not complete when the quality of those years is considered. Healthy life expectancy reached 62.8 years in 2023, still 0.4 years below 2019. In other words, total years lived nearly returned to the earlier level, while years lived in full health did not.
The figure does not come from a single study. WHO builds the Global Health Estimates from national vital registration, technical programme estimates, UN and inter-agency sources, Global Burden of Disease inputs and scientific studies, using standardized methods to make countries and years comparable.
The wider story is not only recovery from COVID-19. Noncommunicable diseases accounted for 74% of global deaths in 2023, up from 58% in 2000. The global mortality profile is continuing to shift toward heart disease, diabetes, dementia and other chronic conditions.
The key boundary is that 73.3 years is a modeled global average. It does not mean every country, income group or population returned to its pre-pandemic level, and the estimates describe 2023 rather than real-time health in 2026.
WHAT WE KNOW
Estimated global life expectancy was 73.3 years in 2023 versus 73.4 in 2019. [1][2][3]
Healthy life expectancy was 62.8 years in 2023 and remained 0.4 years below 2019.
The new Global Health Estimates cover 2000-2023 and synthesize multiple data sources.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW
The global average does not show how evenly recovery is shared across individual countries and social groups.
Global Health Estimates can be revised as underlying data and methods change.
This result does not identify any single policy or treatment as the cause of the recovery.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Future editions can show whether healthy life expectancy also closes its gap with 2019 and how recovery is distributed across countries and regions.
SOURCE TRACE
WHO estimates global life expectancy at 73.3 years in 2023, compared with 73.4 years in 2019.
WHO estimates healthy life expectancy at 62.8 years in 2023, still 0.4 years below its 2019 level.
WHO's 2026 Global Health Estimates cover global, regional and country trends from 2000 through 2023 and synthesize multiple data sources.
SOURCES
- New WHO estimates show changing global health landscapeOpen source
- Global Health EstimatesOpen source
- Life expectancy almost back to pre-COVID levels, says WHOOpen source
CURRENT EVIDENCE
VALIDATED EVIDENCE
WHO released updated global, regional and country health estimates covering 2000-2023 after synthesis and Member State review processes.
WHAT WOULD CHANGE THIS?
- A substantial revision of the Global Health Estimates that materially changes the 2019-2023 comparison.
- New population data showing a marked reversal of the global trajectory after 2023.