![]() ![]() ![]() Now, let’s look at the change since 1950. 3 After millennia of stagnation in terrible health conditions the seal was finally broken. It was the first time in human history that we achieved sustained improvements in health for entire populations. Such improvements in life expectancy - despite being exclusive to particular countries - was a landmark sign of progress. The decline of child mortality was important for the increase of life expectancy, but as we explain in our entry on life expectancy increasing life expectancy was certainly not only about falling child mortality – life expectancy increased at all ages. Africa as a whole had an average life expectancy of only 36 years, while people in other world regions could expect to live more than twice as long. The global inequality in health was enormous in 1950: People in Norway had a life expectancy of 72 years, whilst in Mali this was 26 years. But elsewhere a newborn could only expect to live around 30 years. In 1950 the life expectancy for newborns was already over 60 years in Europe, North America, Oceania, Japan and parts of South America. Over the next 150 years some parts of the world achieved substantial health improvements. Almost everyone in the world lived in extreme poverty, we had very little medical knowledge, and in all countries our ancestors had to prepare for an early death. 1ĭemographic research suggests that at the beginning of the 19 th century no country in the world had a life expectancy longer than 40 years. The three maps show the global history of life expectancy over the last two centuries. Share of men and women expected to survive to the age of 65. ![]()
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