Statistics

 

The World health statistics report is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual compilation of the most recent available data on health and health-related indicators for its 194 Member States. The 2022 edition features the latest data for 50+ indicators from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and WHO Triple billion targets. A total of 35 indicators present at least 2020 data (from comparable estimates and primary data) and 16 indicators include data between 2017 and 2019.

Progression and impact of the COVID-19 01 pandemic:

More than two years after WHO characterized COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern on 11 March 2020, COVID-19 continues to be a global threat to health. The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines had brought hopes that the pandemic’s death toll could be drastically contained and the pandemic itself could be halted. However, a combination of factors upended these hopes in 2021. Erratic and hesitant public health measures, deficient health system capacities, and a highly unequal access to COVID-19 vaccines saw new variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) gain ascendance and drive successive waves of infection in all regions. COVID-19 continues to claim large numbers of lives worldwide. In addition, the long-term impact of infection on people’s health is not yet fully understood. Preliminary indications are that significant proportions of people who acquire the infection experience a wide range of complications (some possibly chronic) for at least several weeks after the initial infection. Both study evidence and anecdotal reports indicate that survivors of SARS-CoV-2 infection may be subject to a multitude of long-lasting symptoms. Reports of the prevalence of ongoing symptoms vary (1-3). A recent systematic review reported a prevalence of persistent symptoms in patients after mild COVID-19 infection ranged from 10% to 35% (4). Cognitive impairment, various neuropsychiatric symptoms, fatigue, headaches and other complaints are among the conditions reported four or more weeks after the initial infection (5). A detailed understanding of these long-lasting symptoms has not yet been achieved. Compounding the impact on the health of individuals is the pandemic’s disruption of social life, economic activity and, in some cases, political stability (including antimasking protests in some countries), as well as essential health services. Shortages of health care staff, diagnostics and medicines have been reported in numerous countries, while immunization services and the diagnosis and treatment of other health conditions have also been disrupted or delayed (6-7)

Healthy life expectancy and burden of disease 

World health statistics 2022 – Monitoring health for the SDGs

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a detrimental impact on 

global population health, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy 

(HALE) (1,2). Prior to the pandemic, there had been progress in all these 

respects, with average life expectancy at birth and HALE increasing 

markedly from 2000 to 2019.1

 These trends were driven by the progress 

made against many diseases and injuries, including those occurring among 

disadvantaged populations and specific groups. This chapter describes the 

latest trends in life expectancy, HALE and the burden of disease for a range 

 of key communicable and NCDs, as well as for injuries.

Improvements in healthy longevity and the 

changing burden of disease In an ideal world, an increase in life expectancy would be driven primarily by increases in years lived in good health, with a shrinking proportion of years lived in disability. This would mean 

that people are both living longer and remaining in good health for longer periods and for greater proportions of their lives.

At the global level, HALE as a proportion of life expectancy at birth has remained largely constant since 2000 at around 

88–89% for men and 84–87% for women. HALE as a proportion of life expectancy at age 60 years follows a similar trend, 

but is lower, at approximately 73–78% for men and 70–75% for women. In HICs and UMICs, the latter proportion has 

decreased slightly since 2000. On average, people are living 

longer, but their extended longevity is accompanied by rising 

levels of ill health and disability.

Globally, the average number of years an infant is expected to 

live in less than full health has risen by about one year since 

2000, to 8.3 years in 2019 for a male infant and to 11.0 years 

for a female infant. The average number of years a person aged 

60 years is likely to live with compromised health has also 

risen slightly over that period to 4.7 and 6.0 years for males 

and females, respectively (3). Irrespective of age, females on 

average live more years in disability than males, partly due to 

their longer life expectancy and their higher risk of experiencing 

function loss, especially at older ages. This sex gap is widening 

as life expectancy increases (5). 

The overall gains in life expectancy and HALE reflect profound 

changes in mortality and morbidity during the past two decades. 

Globally, across all WHO regions, age-standardized rates of 

death and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) fell between 

2000 and 2019 across all three broad categories of causes 

of death: communicable, maternal, perinatal and nutritional; 

NCDs; and injuries. This trend was driven mainly by a steep 

decline in morbidity and mortality caused by communicable 

diseases, particularly in LICs and LMICs. In the latter settings, 

age-standardized rates of death due to communicable diseases 

declined by more than 50% since 2000, about double the 

decline seen for NCDs and injuries. 

As more individuals avoid or survive communicable diseases, 

they are surviving to older ages where NCDs become the 

principal health risks. Globally, NCDs accounted for 60.8% of 

all deaths in 2000, rising to 73.6% in 2019 , while the share 

of communicable diseases decreased from 30.7% in 2000 

to 18.4% in 2019 (Fig. 2.4). Seven of the 10 leading causes 

of deaths in 2019 were NCDs, accounting for over 85% of 

mortality in HICs. The picture is markedly different in LICs where 

communicable diseases were still responsible for almost one 

half (46.8%) of deaths in 2019, despite the gains made against 

https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/