COVID-19 has claimed many lives on a global scale. According to foreign media, the global death toll is reported to be about 5.13 million as of November 17. Through this, a study was published to investigate how short the average life expectancy of mankind has been.
This is an interpretation of death data from 37 countries using the Human Mortality database from 2005 to 2025, and estimates how much life was lost in each country.
It is limited to countries where detailed data were obtained during the survey period, and most countries in Asia, Africa, and South America were not included. As a result of the interpretation, the average life expectancy was shortened in countries with many people infected with COVID-19.
Russia (-2.32 years), the United States (-1.98 years), Bulgaria (-1.75 years), Lithuania (-1.61) and Poland (-1.36 years old) have seen significant declines in life expectancy. On the contrary, countries with successful infection measures such as New Zealand, Taiwan, and Norway have rather increased their average life expectancy. From 2005 to 2019, the average life expectancy of both men and women gradually increased, but from 2020, the trend of COVID-19 has suddenly plunged.
According to the data, more than 28 million years have been lost in 31 countries. For example, if five people, whose life expectancy is predicted for the remaining 10 years, die early for some reason, it is calculated that "10×5=50 years" has disappeared. This is called the number of years lost due to early death.
Multiply the number of years lost in 31 countries whose lifespan has been reduced by more than 28 million years in total. Russia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, the United States, Poland, and Hungary had large "lost training" per 100,000 people.
The "lost training" related to the global epidemic of COVID-19 in 2020 is more than five times the excess impact of seasonal influenza in 2015. From the above, the reason why life expectancy has been shortened in many countries can be thought to be because there have been many "lost training" due to the "early death of the elderly" caused by COVID-19.
Due to the influence of COVID-19, there is a concern that the identification of cancer or chronic diseases will be delayed as the general health examination of the general public is also reduced.
This could lead to more indirect deaths in the future. According to the Japan University Cancer Association, the number of diagnosed five cancers (gastric cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer) in 2020 at 105 domestic facilities decreased by 9.2% compared to 2019, and the number of surgical and endoscopic treatments also decreased.
In particular, gastric cancer and colon cancer decreased by 13.4% and 10.2%, respectively, compared to the previous year, a double-digit decrease. As the number of early cancer diagnoses decreases, unfortunately, the number of cases in which cancer in the advanced stage is found increases.
Writer: Chelsie Song
(Picture from Unsplash)
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