Life expectancy in Chile reaches 80.5 years, the highest in Latin America
- June 2, 2016
- Posted by: ACCDIS
- Category: News,
Only 29 countries in the world exceed 80 years of life expectancy. Chile is one. According to the report "World Health Statistics: Analyzing Health for the Sustainable Development Goals" delivered yesterday by the World Health Organization (WHO), the country is the oldest in Latin America, and the second in America, after Canada.
Sergio Lavadero, director of the Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases (Accdis) points out that there are several reasons that explain this situation, such as access to sewerage, drinking water, the end of malnutrition and the health system “that despite criticism that he receives, compared to these figures, is not so bad ”.
Para el jefe del Programa Nacional de Inmunizaciones (PNI), Fernando Muñoz, la planificación familiar y las vacunas también ayudaron a que hoy vivamos más años. “Con la planificación familiar hubo menos multiparidad y menos embarazos seguidos entre sí. Eso impacta en las expectativas de vida. En los años 60 si un niño pasaba el primer año de vida, ya había ganado más de cuatro años de expectativa de vida porque el riesgo de morir en ese periodo era muy alto”, dice Muñoz.
Vaccines also made their own: before the incorporation of the measles vaccine into the immunization plan in 1963, 30% of children under one year who died were the result of this disease.
At the global level, the WHO highlights that, on average, life expectancy at birth was increased by five years between 2000 and 2015, when humanity went from living an average of 66 to 71.4 years (73.8 years to women and 69.1 for men).
But the differences between rich and poor countries persist. Just as there are 29 nations that are over 80 years old, another 22 barely exceed 50. These same differences occur within countries between rich and poor, says Lavandero.