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Temporary Shock or Lasting Scar? Life Expectancy Trajectories Since COVID-19

2026-02-27 public and global health Title + abstract only
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The COVID-19 pandemic led to substantial life expectancy losses globally. Historically, life expectancy reversals have been followed by rapid returns to previous trajectories, but whether this is true for the COVID-19 pandemic is still unknown. We update life expectancy estimates through 2024 for 34 high-income countries and quantify annual and cumulative life expectancy "deficits" by comparing observed life expectancy with counterfactuals based on pre-pandemic trends. Five years after the pande...

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