Pandemic caused prolonged decline in global life expectancy: Study

COVID-19 has caused a prolonged decline in life expectancy levels, leading to global mortality changes unprecedented in the last 70 years, according to a study.

The researchers from the University of Oxford, UK, and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany used data from 29 countries in Europe, as well as Chile and the US.

The study, published on Monday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, found that life expectancy in 2021 remained lower than expected across all 29 countries, had pre-pandemic trends continued.

Previous global epidemics have seen fairly rapid "bounce backs" to life expectancy levels, the researchers said.

However, the scale and magnitude of COVID-19, on mortality, confounds claims it has had no more impact than a flu-like illness, they said.

The researchers noted that life expectancy losses during recurring flu epidemics over the second-half of the 20th century have been much smaller and less widespread than those seen in the pandemic.

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