Years lost: Boosting life expectancy through preventative health interventions

Years lost: Boosting life expectancy through preventative health interventions

Over the past decades, life expectancy has significantly improved across the G20.

Countries with the lowest life expectancy have seen the greatest improvements during this time. Between 2000 and 2016, Russia, South Korea and India saw a 6-year boost in life expectancy, thus slowly closing the gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest countries in the G20.

But these improvements in life expectancy can easily hide that we could save many more years lost through simple and effective preventative interventions, such as screenings, vaccinations, management of disease or facilitating healthier lifestyles. And we know that inequalities, including within countries, are on the rise.

While of course everyone will die of something and not all conditions are preventable, this report highlights that life expectancy could be significantly boosted if we were to reduce deaths from certain common causes:

  • In 2000, life expectancy across the G20 could have been 4.1 years higher if we had avoided all deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD).
  • In 2016, life expectancy could have been 4.3 years higher if deaths from cancer had been avoided – more than the actual average increase in life expectancy over this whole period.

We need to invest in healthier lives, not just longer lives. And we need to address inequalities between and within countries. Investing in prevention is a crucial step in our efforts to ensure longer, healthier lives.

We call on governments to invest at least 6% of health budgets on prevention, in keeping with Canada who currently invests the most in prevention across the G20, and continue to raise this proportion in line with the rise in preventable diseases.