John Elflein
Research expert covering health and health care
Global health - Statistics & Facts
In 2022, all twenty countries with the lowest life expectancy were in Africa, while those with the highest life expectancy were found mostly in Europe and among the wealthy countries of Asia. Although advances in technology and medicine have increased the life expectancy and general health of people around the world, great inequalities in health and health care based on geography and wealth still exist. Wealthier countries around the world tend to have better quality health care and more widespread access to such services. As a result, less wealthy countries are often more impacted by diseases and health issues that are easily prevented and treated in wealthy countries. However, wealthy, more developed countries are not immune to disease and often have high rates of chronic diseases and preventable risk factors.
What are the leading causes of death worldwide?
In 2021, the leading causes of death worldwide were ischemic heart disease, COVID-19, and stroke. That year, ischemic heart disease caused around 114 deaths per 100,000 population, while the death rate for COVID-19 was 110 per 100,000 population. However, the leading causes of death among individual countries can be vastly different. For example, high-income countries are more likely to report chronic diseases such as ischemic heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among their leading causes of death while low-income countries are more impacted by infectious diseases such as malaria, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDs. In 2021, malaria was the fourth leading cause of death in low-income countries worldwide, while diarrheal diseases were the seventh most common cause. However, neither of these were among the ten leading causes of death for high-income countries at that time.Major health risks
Lifestyle choices that impact health and increase the risk of disease are prevalent around the world. Such lifestyle risk factors include smoking, drinking alcohol, being overweight or obese, and practicing unsafe sex. The prevalence of these risk factors varies from country to country, but are relevant health issues in many countries, despite income level. For example, smoking rates have decreased in many parts of the world, but millions of people still smoke tobacco daily. It is estimated that smoking currently contributes to around two million deaths from ischemic heart disease and 1.1 million deaths from stroke worldwide every year. Alcohol is estimated to contribute to around three million deaths per year, or 5.3 percent of all deaths worldwide. Furthermore, although obesity was once considered a problem of wealthy, developed countries, it is increasingly becoming a problem in developing countries as well. It was estimated in 2021 that around nine percent of deaths in the United States could be attributed to obesity, with this share reaching almost 16 percent in Egypt.A healthy future
Medical technology and developments in medicine help countries around the world develop and improve their health systems, and decrease the burden of infectious diseases. However, health risk factors such obesity and alcohol use and chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer will likely remain health issues around the world for the foreseeable future. Tackling these issues and decreasing health disparities requires the participation of governments and health care professionals, but also individuals taking personal responsibility for their health by avoiding known risk factors and living healthy lives.
