The World Health Organisation has decried the staggering 33-year life expectancy gap between people living in the world’s richest and poorest countries, describing it as a stark indicator of global health inequities.
This revelation was made public on Tuesday in Geneva during the launch of the WHO’s World Report on Social Determinants of Health Equity by its Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
According to the report, factors such as poor housing, limited educational opportunities, and lack of access to decent employment contribute significantly to the lower life expectancy in less privileged regions.
“Our world is an unequal one. Where we are born, grow, live, work, and age significantly influence our health and well-being,” Dr Ghebreyesus said.
The study, the first of its kind since 2008, emphasized that individuals born in countries with the lowest life expectancy can expect to live, on average, 33 years less than those in nations at the top of the scale.
It also pointed to a concerning social gradient in health, where the degree of deprivation in communities often correlates with lower income levels and poorer health outcomes.
The report noted that marginalised and discriminated groups, including Indigenous populations, experience even lower life expectancies than their peers, irrespective of a country’s wealth.
Highlighting the extent of the disparity, the report said children born in poorer countries are 13 times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than those in wealthier nations.
Furthermore, modelling data suggests that nearly two million child deaths could be averted annually by closing the health equity gap in low- and middle-income countries.
Despite a 40 per cent decline in global maternal mortality between 2000 and 2023, WHO observed that 94 per cent of maternal deaths still occur in low and lower-middle-income nations.
In response, the organisation called for urgent and collective global action to address the root causes of health disparities, including investing in social infrastructure, expanding universal public services, and dismantling structural discrimination.
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