10 / 42
Thailand’s life expectancy at birth
compares well with life expectancy
as estimated for Germany except
that the mortality for males in
Thailand is higher than for males in
Germany.
Life expectency is a proxy
indicator for the wellbeing and the
general health status of the
population of a country. As a
positive development, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently stated that ‘five more
years (were) added to life expectancy between 2000 and 2015’ globall
y 10 .Five high income
countries from Asia, Europe and
Australia were listed with a life
expectancy at birth of well over 80
years which sharply contrasted with
the situation of five countries in
Africa where on average a newborn
can expect to live only a few years
above 50. Since WHO wants to
encourage
increasing
life
expectancies in low and middle
income countries, then a decrease in
mortality shouldn’t be lamented when discussing the
world’s overpopulation. The claim that life expectancy
at birth saw an unprecedented increase over the period
1900 to 2010 from 30 years to almost 70 years should
be then considered an achievement (see graph
below
) 11 .Development of life expectancy over time
From prehistoric times up to the 20
th
century
such extraordinary increases in life expectancy were
not recorded, but the paleolithic average life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 33 years.
Those surviving until the age of 15 might have lived up to 54 years. However, the odds of
reaching that age were very dim. Being born in ‘classical Rome’ on average one might have
reached the age of 20 to 30 years. A child surviving until 10 years of age might have had a
chance of getting to be 48 years old. Being born in late mediaeval England on average one
would reach the same age as those in Rome at the time of the Roman Empire and that was 30
years. However, if you were still alive at age 21 you might have had another 43 years to live
(i.e. up to the age of 64). An increase in life expectancy is achieved by mortality reduction. It
10 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/health-inequalities-persist/en/(accessed May 24,
2016)
11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy(accessed May 24, 2016)
79
83
69
73
23
25
0
50
100
Thailand
Germany
Life expectancy at birth for females (in years)
Healthy life expectancy for females (in years)
Life expectancy at age 60 for females (in years)
71
79
63
69
19
22
0
50
100
Thailand
Germany
Life expectancy at birth for males (in years)
Healthy life expectancy for males (in years)
Life expectancy at age 60 for males (in years)
31
48
67.2
0
20
40
60
80
1900 1950 2010