A new analysis looks not only at the number of years we can expect to live, but also at the number of years we can expect to live in good health. In most of the world, life expectancy is longer than it was 20 years ago, but often a smaller percentage of those years will be healthy ones. Read related article.
If I'm from
, how long will I live?
Men typically live years. Of those, years are healthy.
Women typically live years. Of those, years are healthy.
Global For every year increase in life expectancy worldwide, healthy life expectancy increased about 9-1/2 months.
United States Men can expect to lose about 10 years to disability.
Haiti The devastating earthquake in January 2010 reduced average male life expectancy to 32.5 years.
China Healthy life expectancy is the highest percentage of life expectancy in the world, at nearly 89 percent for men.
Women in 2010 The average life expectancy is 73 years, with roughly 12 years lost to disability.
United States Women can expect to lose about 13 years to disability, roughly 16 percent of their life expectancy.
Haiti The devastating earthquake in January 2010 reduced average female life expectancy to 43.6 years.
China Healthy life expectancy is the highest percentage of life expectancy in the world, at nearly 87 percent for women.
Men in 1990 Men lost fewer lives to disability in 1990 than in 2010. In 1990, the average life expectancy was about 64 years. Roughly 86 percent of those years are healthy.
United States In 1990, men lost nine years to disability and had a life expectancy of 71 years.
Ethiopia Life expectancy in this country is one of the lowest. The study shows that the lowest healthy life expectancies were mostly in subSaharan Africa.
Women in 1990 The average life expectancy for women was 69 years. An average of 11 years were lost to disability.
United States Women lost 12 years to disability, with a life expectancy of 78.6 years.
Afghanistan Healthy life expectancy is the lowest percentage of life expectancy in the world for women, at 80 percent.
Ethiopia In 1990, the lowest healthy life expectancies were in subSaharan Africa. In 2010, more than eight of the lowest were still in subSaharan Africa.
NOTE: Researchers determined "healthy life expectancy" by estimating the frequency of 1,160 different health problems, weighting each by its relative severity, and subtracting people's time spent with these conditions from overall life expectancy. For example, if a person spent his final year of life with a condition that left him half as healthy as a person with no health problems, six months were subtracted. More than 30,000 people were surveyed to determine the severity weights.
SOURCES: "Healthy life expectancy for 187 countries, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden Disease Study 2010" by Joshua A. Salomon, et al., Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
GRAPHIC: Bonnie Berkowitz, Emily Chow and Todd Lindeman - The Washington Post. Published Dec. 13, 2012.
