Women are living longer than men
The world has witnessed major gains in life expectancy in recent decades, with women living longer than men, a new study has shown.
The World Health Statistics, 2014 indicate that a girl born in 2012 can expect to live an average of 72.7 years, while a boy can live for 68.1 years.
This is six years longer than the average global life expectancy for a child born in 1990, the study says.
The survey bearing data collected from 194 countries and released yearly by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since 2005 indicates that low-income countries have made the most significant progress, with an increase of nine years of average life expectancy between 1990 and 2012.
This translates to a move from 51.2 to 60.2 years for men and 54.0 to 63.1 years for women.
“This has been achieved despite the ongoing HIV pandemic affecting many low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa,” the report says.
The top six countries that made the greatest progress in extending life expectancy were Liberia, Ethiopia, Maldives, Cambodia, Timor-Leste and Rwanda.