We can do better, and we should strive to do so. But overall, US policies have helped the vast majority of the world live healthier, longer, and happier lives.
Life Expectancy By World Region, 1950-2050
According to United Nations estimates, average life expectancy at birth is projected to exceed 80 years in most regions by 2050.
Improved
global living conditions mean we are, for the most part, living better and longer lives than ever before — and few things illustrate just how far we've come, like looking back at life expectancies of the past.
Based on the 2022 United Nations
Revision of World Population Prospects, Visual Capitalist's
Marcus Lu charted the average life expectancy at birth in selected global regions from 1950 and 2000, as well as projections for 2050.
Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean had the lowest life expectancies overall in 1950, at 42, 49 and 38 years, respectively. By 2000, however, that number had risen to 68 years in Asia and 71 years in Latin America and the Caribbean — while Africa's life expectancy had crept up to just 53 over the same period.
According to estimates by the UN, average life expectancy at birth is projected to surpass 80 years in most global regions by 2050 — but not in Africa, where, by that time, it's projected to climb to just 68 years.
Distribution of population between different poverty
thresholds, World, 1820 to 2018
This data is adjusted for inflation and for differences in the cost of living between countries. Dataafter 1981 relates to household income or consumption surveys collated by the World Bank;before 1981 it is based on historical reconstructions of GDP per capita and inequality data.