Average Life Expectancy and the Global Population

With each passing year, the average life expectancy of the global population has increased. However, a meaningful interpretation of the increase in the average life expectancy cannot take place without a detailed analysis of the average life expectancy of individual countries and the regions. In Dan Smith's book, The State of the World Atlas, all Western industrialized countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, along with the nations of Western Europe have the life expectancy range of 75 and above. In contrast, in other regions, only Japan and Singapore in Asia, Chile in South America, Costa Rica in Central America, as well as United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait in the Middle East have the same life expectancy. Most of the nations in these regions have the next highest life expectancy range of 65 to 74. What is most alarming is that most nations of the African continent have the life expectancy rage of 45 to 54 (16-7).

Based on the above description, it is evident that wide disparities in the life expectancy rates exist among the nations in different regions. The statistical figures of life expectancy rates are particularly significant to policymakers in national governments and international organizations such as the United Nations that aid developing countries. For some policymakers, the assessment of the life expectancy rates and contributing factors is considered simply as a health issue that can be eradicated by implementing public hea

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e the meaningfulness of their life expectancy figures for its 2000 study, the WHO formulated a new way of measuring life expectancy by incorporating diseases and disabilities that undermine the quality of the people's health: "healthy life expectancy" (Crossette A10). Based on this evaluation, the WHO researchers found that the healthy life expectancy of the U.S. was lower than its traditional life expectancy. While the U.S.'s traditional life expectancy was 76.7 years in 1998 (men = 73.9 years; women = 79.4 years), its healthy life expectancy was 70 years in 1999 (men = 67.5 years; women = 72.6 years). One of the chief reasons that contributed to the lowered life expectancy was the poor health of the American minorities. As WHO pointed out, the life expectancy of the ethnic minorities in the U.S. was reduced by the effects of diseases, injuries and other disabilities. More specifically, the poor health of American minorities stemmed from AIDS, tobacco-related cancers, heart disease and violence (Crossette A10). Their poor health status should not be simply treated as a health issue. As one of the richest countries in the world with renowned medical facilities, the U.S. should have been able to provide adequate health care

Category: Psychology - A