The global life expectancy fell by 1.6 years during the pandemic but Australia was one of 32 countries to record an increase in its average life expectancy, data has revealed.
Australia had a 0.01 per cent increase in deaths, but also saw an increase in life expectancy from 2019 to 2021, according to a new study published in medical journal The Lancet.
New Zealand was one of four countries with the lowest “age-adjusted excess mortality”, meaning the country had fewer deaths than they were expected to have in that period.
Globally the pandemic caused the mortality rate to rise by 22 per cent for males and 17 per cent for females between 2019 and 2021, according to the study.
Mexico City, Peru, and Bolivia had some of the largest drops in life expectancy.
But mortality rates among children decreased by seven per cent in the same period.
”For adults worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a more profound impact than any event seen in half a century, including conflicts and natural disasters,” says co-first author Dr Austin Schumacher, from the University of Washington.
“Life expectancy declined in 84 per cent of countries and territories during this pandemic, demonstrating the devastating potential impacts of novel pathogens.”
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Mortality among older people in the pandemic “rose in ways unseen in the previous 70 years”, according study led by dozens of universities.
The pandemic was estimated to kill about 16 million people globally in 2020 and 2021.
The global population rate began to drop in 2017 and accelerated in the pandemic.
As of 2021, 56 countries had reached peak population, with many seeing their populations shrink.
Rapid population growth continued in lower-income countries.
