The average lifespan of a person globally is about 73 years, though that number varies dramatically depending on where you live, your sex, and your lifestyle. In 2022, global life expectancy sat at roughly 73.6 years. That figure represents an extraordinary gain: in 1900, the average life expectancy of a newborn was just 32 years, meaning humanity has more than doubled its lifespan in a little over a century.
Global Life Expectancy Today
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, global life expectancy had been climbing steadily for two decades, rising from 66.8 years in 2000 to 73.1 years in 2019. The pandemic reversed that progress sharply. Between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy dropped by 1.8 years to 71.4, erasing roughly a decade of gains. The Americas and Southeast Asia were hit hardest, losing about 3 years of life expectancy in that window, while the Western Pacific region lost less than a tenth of a year.
By 2024, recovery was well underway. In the United States, life expectancy reached an all-time high of 79.0 years. Switzerland topped comparable high-income countries at 84.2 years. Even among wealthy nations, there’s a gap of more than 5 years between the highest and lowest performers.
Why Women Live Longer Than Men
Women consistently outlive men in virtually every country. In the United States, that gap is nearly six years, and it has been widening. The reasons are a mix of biology and behavior. Men have an 80% higher risk of cardiovascular disease compared to women. They also use tobacco at higher rates, which compounds that heart disease risk.
Behavioral differences extend beyond smoking. Two out of every three melanoma deaths occur in men, largely because men are less likely to wear sunscreen and less likely to see doctors for routine checkups. These patterns hold across cultures, though the size of the gap varies by country.
How We Doubled the Human Lifespan
The jump from 32 years in 1900 to 71 years in 2021 is the single most dramatic improvement in the history of human health. It wasn’t driven by any one breakthrough. Clean water, sanitation, better nutrition, vaccines, antibiotics, neonatal care, and rising living standards all played a role. Much of the early progress came from reducing infant and child mortality. When fewer children die before age five, the average lifespan rises dramatically even if adults aren’t living much longer individually.
The gains accelerated in the 21st century too. Between 2000 and 2019 alone, global life expectancy increased by more than 6 years, driven largely by improvements in lower-income countries that were catching up to wealthier ones.
Genetics vs. Lifestyle
Only about 25% of the variation in human lifespan is determined by genetics. For the first seven or eight decades of life, lifestyle choices are a stronger determinant of health and longevity than your DNA. That means diet, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol use, and access to healthcare collectively matter far more than the genes you inherited.
Genetics become more influential at the extremes. People who live past 100 tend to carry specific gene variants that protect against age-related diseases. But for the vast majority of people, reaching your 70s or 80s in good health is largely within your control.
What Shortens the Average Most
Heart disease is the world’s single biggest killer, responsible for 13% of all deaths globally. Stroke is the next largest contributor at about 10%, followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at roughly 5%. In 2021, COVID-19 pushed its way into the rankings as a leading cause, directly responsible for 8.8 million deaths that year alone and reshuffling the order of every other cause below it.
These top killers share overlapping risk factors: high blood pressure, smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity, and air pollution. Reducing exposure to even a few of these risks shifts the odds considerably.
Lifespan vs. Healthy Lifespan
Living longer isn’t the same as living well for longer. The World Health Organization tracks a separate measure called healthy life expectancy, which counts only the years a person lives in good health, free from serious disability or disease. In 2021, global healthy life expectancy was 61.9 years, compared to total life expectancy of 71.4 years. That gap of roughly 9.5 years represents the average time people spend living with significant health problems.
This distinction matters more than the headline number. Adding years to life has outpaced adding health to those years. Forecasts from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation project that by 2050, total life expectancy will reach 78.1 years, but healthy life expectancy will only reach 67.4 years, meaning the gap between living and living well is expected to persist at about 10 to 11 years.
Where Life Expectancy Is Headed
Global life expectancy is forecast to rise from 73.6 years in 2022 to 78.1 years by 2050, a gain of about 4.5 years. That projection accounts for ongoing threats including rising rates of obesity and diabetes, climate change, and geopolitical instability. The biggest gains are expected in countries that currently have the lowest life expectancies, as improvements in infectious disease control and maternal health continue to spread.
For people in high-income countries, the trajectory is flatter. Most of the easy gains have already been captured. Future improvements will depend on reducing chronic disease, addressing mental health, and narrowing the inequalities that leave some populations decades behind others.