Six-Decade Trend Analysis of Life Expectancy at Birth in Asia, Regions of Asia and Iran: A Joinpoint Analysis.

Background: Life expectancy is one of the key indicators for investigating the overall health status of a population. Thus, analyzing the trend of this demographic measure is of great importance for planning health and social services in different societies. In this study, we aimed to model the trends of life expectancy in Asia, regions of Asia, and Iran over the past six decades.

Methods: The annual life expectancy at birth data sets were extracted for Iran and the total Asia population between 1960 and 2020 from the database provided by the Our World in Data website. The trend analysis was performed using the joinpoint regression model.

Results: During the study period, Iranians and Asians have, respectively, experienced about 32 and 28.6 years increase in life expectancy. The results from joinpoint regression showed that the average annual percent change (AAPC) of life expectancy was positive for all regions of Asia, and ranged from 0.4% for Central Asia to 0.9% for Southern Asia. In addition, the estimated AAPC in Iranian people was about 0.1 higher than the total Asian population (0.9% vs. 0.8%).

Conclusion: Despite protracted wars, poverty, and social inequality in some parts of Asia, life expectancy has drastically increased in this continent over the last decades. However, life expectancy in Asia (and Iran) is still remarkably lower than in more developed parts of the world. To elevate life expectancy to a higher level, the policymakers in Asian countries should put more effort into improving the standards of living and access to health facilities in their societies.