Life expectancy down in SA

File photo: Supplied

File photo: Supplied

Published Dec 18, 2014

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Cape Town - South Africa is one of the countries in the world where life expectancy has dropped in the past two decades, seeing citizens dying at younger ages.

A cause of death study published in The Lancet journal on Thursday revealed that South Africa is one of 11 countries worldwide where life expectancy fell in the period between 1990 and last year.

In this 23-year period, life expectancy for men fell from 60.5 to 57.7 years, and women from 68.9 to 63 years. That’s an average of 4.3 years lost since 1990.

These figures are in sharp contrast to the global average of people living 6.2 years longer than they did in 1990. Life expectancy is now an average of just under 72 years globally.

Out of the 188 countries examined in the study, South Africa ranked 162nd for women’s life expectancy and 169th for men last year. Women lived longest in Andorra, dying at 86.7 years, while men lived longest in Qatar, at 81.2 years.

Lives for both men and women were shortest in Lesotho, where women died at 51.2 years old and men at 45.6 years.

In South Africa, the top killers revealed by the study were HIV/Aids, stroke and pneumonia, which accounted for over half of all deaths last year.

Dr Bongani Mayosi, Professor of Medicine at UCT, said: “We have achieved great progress in reducing mortality from a number of diseases, reflecting our country’s investments in improving health for its citizens.

“But we are still seeing children dying and deaths from other conditions are rising. These data are critical to understanding where we’ve been – and then where we need to go in order to save more lives in the future.”

Children most often fell victim to diarrheal diseases, which killed 6 510 under the age of five last year.

South Africans who died between the ages of 15 and 49 mostly lost their lives due to interpersonal violence and HIV/Aids, at a death toll of 191 792 last year.

For people over 70, stroke was the top killer.

Deaths from road injuries and suicides increased more than 200 percent, with hypertensive heart disease deaths increasing 150 percent.

Meanwhile, malnutrition and diarrheal diseases took a much gentler toll on the country than they did 23 years ago, with deaths falling 61 and 33 percent respectively. In 1990, these diseases killed 29 334 people. Last year, they claimed 17 904 lives. Tuberculosis took a much harsher toll on men than women, but strokes claimed nearly double the number of female lives than male.

The full study is available for download from www.thelancet.com.

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Cape Argus

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