COVID caused biggest drop in Life Expectancy since World War II: Study

The study showed that life expectancy dropped by more than six months compared with 2019 in 22 countries and reductions in life expectancy were seen in 27 countries out of the 29, including the United States, Europe and Chile. According to data by worldometers.com, 4,761,895 people have succumbed to Covid-19 till now across the world and the US continues to top the death toll at 706,317, followed by Brazil and India.

The study revealed that there was a greater reduction in life expectancy for men than women in the majority of the countries.

The largest reduction was seen in men from the United States, who saw life expectancy drop by 2.2 years relative to 2019.

“The fact that our results highlight such a large impact that is directly attributable to Covid-19 shows how devastating a shock it has been for many countries,” said Dr Ridhi Kashyap, co-lead author of the paper, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. Dr Kashyap appealed to more countries, including those in the bracket of low and middle income.

In the US, the surge in mortality was largely seen in people of working age and those below 60 years. On the other hand, deaths due to Covid-19 among people over 60 years contributed more significantly towards the increase in mortality, the Oxford University study also showed. – PTI