Global Health News: Absolute Human Longevity Reached? New Study Suggests Humans Will Never Live Longer Than 122 Years Despite Life Expectancy Increase

Global health has improved with longer lives but with chronic diseases - causing death of seven out of ten people in the world. Since 1980, life expectancy has increased in 2015 with men's average span 69 years and women's 75 years.

A new study revealed that human longevity has been reached, stressing the duration of life has been limited. But researchers said it may be extended at the age of 122, the longest life span known to date. Human life expectancy can surely increase as per the latest studies and researches published in a journal Nature.

Live Science, however, stressed that it does not mean life expectancy can be 122 years but it can surely increase from 70. The oldest people of average 110 years died between 1968 and 2006. But, the life expectancy dropped to 70 in 1970s.

Meanwhile, death rate was high in the '60s but has dropped due to the measures taken against communicable diseases. That's why, global health has increased, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 report, published in The Lancet. Deadly deaths due to chronic diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis fell from 3.1 million in 2005 to 2.3 million in 2015.

Another contributor for increasing global health is reduction in the death rate caused due to infectious diseases like cholera, malaria and diarrhea. Annual diarrheal deaths decreased by 20 percent and malaria mortality jumped from 1.2 million to 0.73 million in 2015.

Global health is disturbed by the increased death rates caused by non-communicable chronic diseases such as cancers, heart diseases and strokes. These diseases claimed more lives hence, death toll increased to 39 million in 2015 from 35 million in 2005.

In other global health reports, global health life expectancy has increased in 191 out of 195 countries since 1990 to 2005. However, from 2005 to 2015 it has not risen much because people are living longer lives but with chronic illness and disability, Fox News reported.

"As we live longer, the burden of non-communicable diseases is rising -- along with the attendant costs of treatment," Kevin Watkins, head of Save the Children U.K., noted in a comment via The Lancet.

According to a survey on Global health, North America had the worst health lifestyle in both men and women. People are overweight or obese in North America. They commonly have diabetes while some are experiencing drug use disorders - with opioids and cocaine.

Global health is also affected by civil wars in Syria, Yemen and Libya. But the West European and East Asian countries scored the highest in global health survey.