The classic two clues that do a test. Two, as consecutive years in which the global life expectancy of humans is declining. An event that had not occurred for over seventy years. According to an expert, a megatrend destined to continue next year and perhaps even in the future.
Will we live less than expected?
Global life expectancy is decreasing and this could be a “megatrend”. Data in hand (coming from the United Nations and the WHO) is the ecology expert Nate Bear it is certain that 2022 will also follow the same trend. At that point, it will have no precedent in all of Modern History.
The role of Covid in this state of affairs? It's obvious, says Bear. However, the “acute” phase of the pandemic is not the only factor to consider, and it may end up not being the worst. We must evaluate the long-term victims, caused by the persistence of the effects of Covid (first of all, those linked to the symptoms of the so-called "Long Covid"), and the risks of new, looming pandemics that could make their way in the future.
Overall life expectancy: when will it rise again?
This is not the right question to ask, says the expert. The right question is: do governments intend to do something to bring up global life expectancy?
He's right. The health problem, on balance, is directly linked to politics and the economy. When the rich get richer, the poor live worse and die sooner. And the poor are more numerous. If there is only one merit of the terrible pandemic, it is that it has clearly shown us this correlation.
What happens now
It's the hardest thing to predict. In the past, rapid collapses in life expectancy have always signaled historic events and often led to profound social revolutions. Bear says this decline in life expectancy is a sign of a similar transformation underway.
La pandemic it has set in motion forces that can be both destructive and creative, but their true impact can only be understood over time.
The only thing that is evident at the moment, given the convergence of health, geopolitical, ecological and economic crises, is that we are at a crossroads in history.
