Humans will not live forever. But as life expectancy globally continues to show a downward trend, experts are starting to worry.
Researchers of decreased life expectancy say, this is a major event that needs to be known more about its causes and how to deal with it.
As ecologist Nate Bear points out, using data from the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization global life expectancy has decreased for the second year in a row.
This is the first time that has happened since the 1950s. Whereas previously, global life expectancy has continued to increase since the 1970s, without a single year of decline at that time. Bear predicts that data for 2022 will show a third consecutive decline.
"Wearing masks and closing the pubs means we're all sick now all the time." This is why when astronauts come back from the space station they all get sick. lol. No. They come back with the same immune system they left with https://t.co/jYIE9G1hJR
— Nate Bear (@NateB_Panic) February 12, 2023
"When global life expectancy drops like this, it means you are in for some major event," he wrote as quoted by Popular Mechanics.
"Economists like to talk about 'big trends' that determine the future. Maybe we can also call this a major event," he continued.
The decline in global life expectancy may be directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. But that doesn't mean the pandemic will be the only cause of the potential for a continued decline. It is possible that there will be more diseases capable of reaching pandemic levels, and there is still the potential for lasting impacts from the most recent pandemic.
Bear called this decline a hint to the future, indicating that our regulatory agencies have yet to understand how to deal with the increasing virus and disease. He further claims that the increase in deaths has a direct economic link.
"As the rich get richer, the poor die faster. And when the government spends more to support the poor, they can live longer. The pandemic showed us this," said Bear.
In the past, Bear said reduced life expectancy always meant that something historic was happening and often led to a fundamental restructuring of society.
"We don't yet really know what destructive or creative forces are driving a pandemic. But we do know its effects will extend over time and, because it intersects with the climate and ecological crises, will raise the most difficult questions for civilization to answer: where are we going, " he concluded.