Health and Healthcare Systems

Global life expectancy has increased over the last 65 years - this animation shows it in just 13 seconds

life expectancy wellbeing health physical mental hospital medicine modern pandemic science research diet sanitation age demographic young old

Modern medicine has transformed our life expectancy over the last century. Image: Unsplash/Philippe Leone

Jeff Desjardins
Founder and editor, Visual Capitalist
  • Ever since the 1918 influenza pandemic, modern medicine and health science advancements have increased life expectancy around the globe.
  • From learning about sanitation, to creating powerful pharmaceutical medicines, see society's health advancements in one visual chart.
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Pandemics have been a thorn in the side of humanity for thousands of years.

But despite COVID-19 being the latest iteration in these deadly infectious diseases to strike, we are experiencing it in a very different public health context than past pandemics throughout history.

Have you read?

A New Era of Medicine

Since the onset of the 1918 influenza pandemic, humans have seen a monumental and undeniable leap forward in the health sciences.

Advancements in everything from sanitation to pharmacology have spread globally, resulting in a health landscape that is almost unrecognizable from those during past disease outbreaks.

While it’s not possible to demonstrate every life-saving advancement in medical knowledge in just one chart, the rise of life expectancy at birth can be a useful proxy. In just 65 years, modern medicine has propelled countries around the world to see a rapid surge in this crucial measure:

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The above animation, which comes to us from Reddit user u/karthikvcp, provides a helpful reminder of just how much has changed in public health over recent decades.

And although countries seem to move up following a linear line, here’s another look at this surge in global life expectancy on a much longer timeline — since the dawn of human civilization:

life expectancy wellbeing health physical mental hospital medicine modern pandemic science research diet sanitation
What life expectancy is believed to have looked like 20-30 years prior to 1820 - with age 25 as the average. Image: Cato Insitute, Our World in Data

Yes, for most of human history, it’s been estimated that global life expectancy at birth has bounced between 20 and 30 years.

Beginning approximately in the year 1820, global life expectancy started its exponential ascent, seeing its most impressive gains after 1950 as modern sanitation and medical advancements began to trickle down to developing nations.

Life Expectancy: Interactive Version

While the 13-second animation is a fast summation of the revolution that has occurred in public health, here’s an interactive version from Our World in Data that plots the exact same data:

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Still at the Mercy of Nature

Although our understandings of epidemiology and disease treatment are better than they’ve been during previous pandemics, other aspects of modern society have still compounded to make COVID-19 a complex challenge for public health officials.

Population density, frequency of travel, and a modern tendency to gather in large groups are all factors that have contributed to an initial spread of the virus that was faster and more widespread than anything humanity has ever seen.

And so, even with our increased level of medical sophistication, it seems we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature — just in a very different set of circumstances than in pandemics past.

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