9L Died In Country In 2016; Global Total Less Than 50L For The First Time, Says Report

India continues to have the largest share of deaths of children under the age of five, new data from the Global Burden of Disease-2016 report published in the medical journal Lancet, show.

Globally , mortality rates have decreased across all age groups over the past five decades, with the largest improvements occurring among children younger than five years.

However, in absolute terms, India recorded the largest number of under-5 deaths in 2016 at 0.9 million followed by Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which recorded 0.7 million and 0.3 million respectively.

The data show deaths among children under-5 years of age decreased globally to fewer than 5 million in 2016 for the first time, down from 16.4 million in 1970.

Regionally , 24·8% of un der-5 deaths in 2016 occurred in south Asia, which recorded 1·2 million deaths during the year.

Overall mortality rates also declined across all age groups resulting in an increased life expectancy , the study said.

The average global life expectancy for women is 75.3 years, and 69.8 years for men. Japan has the highest life expectancy (83.9 both sexes combined), and the Central African Republic has the lowest (50.2 years).

However, with an increased life expectancy , the years lived with ill health or disability also increased.The proportion of total life spent with ill health is high er for lower income countries, compared to higher income countries.

Non-communicable diseases accounted for 72.3% of all deaths (39.5 million) in 2016. Ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause of premature mortality in all regions, apart from in low income countries where the leading cause was lower respiratory infections.

Globally, ischaemic heart disease caused a total of 9.48 million deaths in 2016 ­ an increase of 19% globally since 2006. Diabetes caused 1.43 million deaths globally in 2016, an increase of 31.1% since 2006.

Overall, deaths from infectious diseases have de creased. Exceptions included dengue which saw a significant increase, causing 37,800 deaths in 2016 (81.8% increase since 2006), and drug resistant tuberculosis which caused 10,900 deaths in 2016 (67.6% increase since 2006).

The GBD is the only annual, comprehensive, peerreviewed assessment of global trends in health, providing global and national estimates on more than 330 diseases, causes of death, and injuries in 195 countries across the world.

The study is coordinated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle (USA).