The World Health Organization reports that global life expectancy has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, but healthy life expectancy lags behind.

What it means

The World Health Organization's latest World Health Statistics report shows that global life expectancy has nearly recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels, reaching 73.3 years in 2023, up from a pandemic low of 71.5 years in 2021. However, healthy life expectancy—the number of years lived in good health—has not rebounded as quickly, indicating that the pandemic's long-term health impacts, such as disability and chronic conditions, continue to reduce quality of life even as overall lifespan recovers.

Accuracy & sourcesSourced

The claim is highly solid, coming directly from the WHO's own World Health Statistics 2026 report, a primary source. The reporting in outlets like The Straits Times and NDTV closely mirrors the report's findings, and the WHO's official data repository (IRIS) confirms the partial rebound and the lag in healthy life expectancy.

How new

Genuinely new: the WHO report was published in 2026, and the news coverage is from the past few hours, reflecting the latest official global health data.

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