A team from the ANU took a study completed at Oxford University last year and added data from Australia, comparing relative life expectancy across countries before and after the onset of the pandemic.
Their study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, found that the average life expectancy for Australians increased between 2019 and 2020 by 0.7 years for females and males.
The United States, however, trended downward, with the average life expectancy reducing by -1.7 and -2.2 years for females and males respectively.
Well that is an interesting assertion Bruce. I would have thought the opposite. I don’t remember a time when so many people have died of cancer very quickly.
I think it’s immensely reassuring … only the other day I read somewhere that our mental health had suffered but if we’re living longer it’ll give more time to get over it.
There should be no such thing as professional counselling, or anything associated to financial gain out of helping folks through emotional distress.
You have to consider the paid helpers state at any given moment in time.
Although recent data from the Office for National Statistics found that life expectancy for men in the UK had fallen for the first time in 40 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the new research shows that life expectancy was declining in many communities years before the pandemic began.
Senior author, Professor Majid Ezzati from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: “There has always been an impression in the UK that everyone’s health is improving, even if not at the same pace. These data show that longevity has been getting worse for years in large parts of England. “Declines in life expectancy used to be rare in wealthy countries like the UK, and happened when there were major adversities like wars and pandemics. For such declines to be seen in ‘normal times’ before the pandemic is alarming, and signals ongoing policy failures to tackle poverty and provide adequate social support and health care.”
23 September 2021
Life expectancy for men in the UK has fallen for the first time in 40 years, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates.
Life expectancy at birth in the three years to 2020 was 79 years for men, falling back to a level last seen in 2012-14.
Female life expectancy was virtually unchanged, at just below 83.
Normally, life expectancy in the UK and around the world increases over time - and falls are rare.
But the Covid-19 pandemic saw life expectancy fall across most of Europe and the USA in 2020, on a scale not seen since the World War Two, according to research from Oxford University.
**> ** > And experts say further reductions may be seen in the next year or so, before life expectancy starts to recover.
23 September 2021
“Life expectancy has increased in the UK over the last 40 years, albeit at a slower pace in the last decade. However, the coronavirus pandemic led to a greater number of deaths than normal in 2020. Consequently, in the latest estimates, we see virtually no improvement in life expectancy for females compared to 2015 to 2017 at 82.9 years, while for males life expectancy has fallen back to levels reported for 2012 to 2014, at 79 years. This is the first time we have seen a decline when comparing non-overlapping time periods since the series began in the early 1980s.”
Pamela Cobb, Centre for Ageing and Demography, Office for National Statistics
In a sense, yes Australia is an outlier. It could be argued that Australia is an outlier because of the lockdown. The lockdown may have contributed to fewer deaths overall which contributed to the increase in life expectancy.
In the article in your post:
Australia had comparably fewer deaths than other countries. Their death rate per million today is 104 which is contrasted with the US at 2,617 and the UK at 2,222. (from Worldometers)
Those deaths factor into the death rate which decreased life expectancy for countries with a high death count from the pandemic.
Australia’s comparably low death rate from the pandemic allowed their life expectancy to increase which life expectancies normally do due to increases in medical care and technology and other health-related advances.
Remembering how badly Europe was affected by the pandemic at the beginning of 2020 It is not surprising, the Italian health system was the first to be completely overwhelmed by patients but others followed.
For Australia it’s a combination of decisive action, luck and geographic location, with high vaccination rates the country is slowly opening up and infections are soaring but so far without the death rate some other countries experienced before they had widespread vaccinations.
The 29 countries in the original survey had very mixed results shown in this graph
The top three or four countries were as equally fortunate as Australia but the rest suffered some decline with the USA very badly affected.
Mind you that is a moment in time what the long term effect will be won’t be known for many years to come.
BTW I had to look up “Outlier” it was a new word for me.
