Scroll through social media and you will soon encounter advice about living longer, from fasting plans and supplements to elaborate daily routines. Yet reaching an advanced age tells us little about how healthy or independent those later years will be.
Researchers often use the term healthspan for the years spent in good health, free from disability or chronic disease. In 2021, global life expectancy was 71.4 years, while healthy life expectancy was 61.9 years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). That represents a gap of nine and a half years. A separate analysis estimated that this gap widened in 203 of 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2023.
