[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"question:30:en-US":3},{"metadata":4,"sys":15,"fields":35},{"tags":5,"concepts":14},[6,11],{"sys":7},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":10},"Link","Tag","global",{"sys":12},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":13},"health",[],{"space":16,"id":20,"type":21,"createdAt":22,"updatedAt":23,"environment":24,"publishedVersion":28,"revision":29,"contentType":30,"locale":34},{"sys":17},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"Space","ghhpjogyw4x7","770782b7c60fbe0cde5c62d3852e9a6e","Entry","2021-11-11T07:06:41.110Z","2023-11-24T09:04:06.769Z",{"sys":25},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},"master","Environment",37,17,{"sys":31},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":33},"ContentType","question","en-US",{"globalId":36,"answers":37,"answersAsImages":56,"wrongPercentage":93,"name":94,"questionText":95,"statistics":96,"veryWrongStatistics":98,"correctSentence":100,"youWereWrong":101,"youWereRight":102,"dataSourceShortText":103,"dataSourceLinkLongText":104,"extendedAnswerText":105,"headingVeryWrong":106,"youWereVeryWrong":107,"headingWrong":106},"30",[38,59,76],{"metadata":39,"sys":42,"fields":54},{"tags":40,"concepts":41},[],[],{"space":43,"id":45,"type":21,"createdAt":46,"updatedAt":47,"environment":48,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":50,"contentType":51,"locale":34},{"sys":44},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"6401a624dbfbc720771d5c78fcbe16b4","2021-11-11T06:51:52.728Z","2023-10-11T08:24:51.371Z",{"sys":49},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},12,{"sys":52},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":53},"answer",{"globalId":55,"correctAnswer":56,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":58},"30-a1",false,true,"40 years",{"metadata":60,"sys":63,"fields":73},{"tags":61,"concepts":62},[],[],{"space":64,"id":66,"type":21,"createdAt":67,"updatedAt":68,"environment":69,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":50,"contentType":71,"locale":34},{"sys":65},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"154f249be6f342b1cfe66957efca1c8c","2021-11-11T06:51:54.174Z","2023-10-11T08:24:51.331Z",{"sys":70},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":72},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":53},{"globalId":74,"correctAnswer":56,"isVeryWrong":56,"answerText":75},"30-a2","50 years",{"metadata":77,"sys":80,"fields":90},{"tags":78,"concepts":79},[],[],{"space":81,"id":83,"type":21,"createdAt":84,"updatedAt":85,"environment":86,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":50,"contentType":88,"locale":34},{"sys":82},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"52b4c5de65b577d13f9cc472b756c5f9","2021-11-11T06:51:55.971Z","2023-10-11T08:24:51.292Z",{"sys":87},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":89},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":53},{"globalId":91,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":56,"answerText":92},"30-a3","60 years",86,"The low-income countries of today had a life expec","The low-income countries of today had a life expectancy of 44 years back in 1970. What is it now?",[97],"uk 0.86",[99],"uk 0.291","Life expectancy has increased steadily over the past 50 years in low-income countries, no different from the rest of the world.","Life in the poorest countries is hard. But it used to be harder. You couldn’t imagine they actually live 20 years longer now.","They don’t realize how much longer people live nowadays, even in the poorest countries. ","Sources: UN & World Bank","Gapminder[1] has combined similar data from two main sources - IHME[2] and UN Population Division[3] - to estimate life expectancy from 1970 to 2019. These sources use slightly different data but support the same large increase in the poorest countries. They are based on numbers from population censuses and different health surveys.\n\nThe data we use are for 2017, as there is a delay of a number of years between data collection, analysis and publication. This data is not collected annually (usually once every 10 years or so) and, as such, some of the countries’ figures may be slightly outdated. If data were available for every country for this year it is quite likely the average life expectancy would be even higher. A number of low-income countries in 1970 are no longer low-income countries, so if we were to compare the countries over time the change in life-expectancy would be even greater. \n\n[1]  [Gapminder’s Life expectancy data v11](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Fdata\u002Fdocumentation\u002Fgd004\u002F)  \n[2]  [Data for 1990 to 2019 come from the IHME’s Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD 2019) Life Expectancy 1990-2019. Seattle, USA: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, published 2020.](http:\u002F\u002Fghdx.healthdata.org\u002Frecord\u002Fihmde-data\u002Fgbd-2019-life-expectancy-HALE-1990-2019)  \n[3]  [World Population Prospects 2022](https:\u002F\u002Fpopulation.un.org\u002Fwpp\u002F) ","People on average live 20 years longer in poor countries today, mainly because fewer children die. Fifty years ago, almost one in five children died before age 5, and today it’s less than 1 in 20. This amazing improvement happened thanks to the global spread of knowledge about how to stop diseases that used to kill millions every year.\n\nPeople who don’t know this probably suffer from a common pessimistic misconception that “the world is getting worse”. They probably think it’s a waste of resources to try to help the poor. They are wrong.\n\nTo save lives, the most cost effective thing you can do is to invest where people are poor, because what they need is not expensive. They need the basic services that everyone else already has, which have proven to save lots of lives during the past 50 years: Basic education, vaccination programs, mosquito nets, pregnancy checks, public health infrastructure, sewage systems in cities and clean water and safe toilets.\n\n### Why are people wrong about this?\nLow-income countries (home to 9% of the world’s population) are often seen as places where all people are hungry and struggle every day to survive. While this is certainly true in many communities, there have been massive improvements over the past 50 years. However, as long as the suffering of many is still prominent, it is difficult to celebrate a rising average.\n\n### Why is it a problem that people are wrong about this?\nMore people must realize how effective the life saving programmes are that made this possible. If progress isn’t recognized, it can lead to a reduction in support for the most cost-effective ways to save lives: universal primary education, vaccination programs, mosquito nets, pregnancy checks, public health infrastructure, sewage systems in cities and clean water and sanitation. Investments in these basic functions have made lives 20 years longer, on average, in the poorest communities.\n\n### Do people live longer everywhere?\nYes, in all countries on all income levels, lives are longer today than in 1970, because better health has become cheaper to deliver. Medical discoveries and public health research has made it possible to share knowledge that has made it possible to save lives that couldn’t be saved before. Lots of deaths are now preventable through public education, basic health care, vaccinations, access to safe water, mosquito nets, antibiotics, clean water and sanitation etc. The global increase in average lifespans during the past 50 years was driven by sharing knowledge about these methods. And there are still lots of lives that can be saved without new innovations. [See the increase in life expectancy in all countries from 1970 until today](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Ftools\u002F#$state$time$value=1970;&marker$axis_x$zoomedMin:600;&axis_y$zoomedMin:40&zoomedMax:84;&size$extent@:0.08&:1;;;;&chart-type=bubbles).\n\n### The world is bad in many ways, how can you claim it’s better?\nThere are still tons of problems in the world. We’re NOT trying to deny that. We’re insisting that people should learn about the progress, not to deny the problems. But to solve them. By looking at the solutions that drove the previous progress, we want people to realize that further progress is also possible to solve the many problems that remain. When watching the news from the poorest countries it’s nearly impossible to imagine it used to be worse, but that’s exactly the case. People died at much younger ages on average in all the poorest countries – and in all the other countries. And those who didn’t die suffered from disabilities caused by illnesses for which we have treatment today. But “getting better” is not the same as “being good”. The fact that there used to be more people suffering is no comfort for those who are still stuck in extreme poverty. Every one of them needs a chance to escape the misery and have a shot at a decent life. Providing the essential public services listed above has worked to help many before. See what life is like for the extremely poor [here](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Fdollar-street?max=60).\n\n### Can I trust the data?\nYes, even though there are some uncertainties since the data used to estimate life expectancy is sometimes collected as seldom as every 10 years. Data is more reliable for countries that have civil registration for births and deaths. Modelling is used to fill gaps in data. No matter what, though, the trend is clear.\n\n### Where can I learn more?\nSee the fantastic increase in average lifespans in this interactive bubble chart: [Life expectancy increase from 1970 until today](https:\u002F\u002Fbit.ly\u002F37zi6lf) in all countries\n\nInteractive bubble chart: [Child mortality since 1970 until today](https:\u002F\u002Fbit.ly\u002F2Js2BUo) in all countries\n\nDollar Street: [See what life is like in extreme poverty](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gapminder.org\u002Fdollar-street\u002F?max=60) in many countries\n","Long live the poor","Life in the poorest countries is hard. But it used to be harder. You had no clue they live 20 years longer now."]