Global life expectancy has more than doubled in a century

At the start of the 20th century, the average newborn worldwide could expect to live just about 32 years. Life was short almost everywhere, dominated by infectious disease and very high child mortality.

By 2021, global average life expectancy had more than doubled to around 71 years. The gain came from better nutrition, clean water and sanitation, and medical advances such as vaccines and antibiotics.

Crucially, this isn’t only about saving infants — survival improved at every age, so even adults who reach old age tend to live longer than their ancestors did.

The progress is global. Regions that once lagged far behind have seen the fastest gains, narrowing the gap between the longest- and shortest-lived populations. Few statistics capture human progress as starkly as the simple fact that, on average, people now live more than twice as long as those born just over a century ago.