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13 - Health Transition and Population Ageing

Challenges for the Global South

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2024

By
Géraldine Duthé ,
Lucie Vanhoutte ,
Soumaila Ouedraogo  and
Gilles Pison
Edited by
Jean-François Lemaître  and
Samuel Pavard
Jean-François Lemaître
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Samuel Pavard
Affiliation:
National Museum of Natural History, Paris
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Summary

The Global South, that groups together low- or middle- income countries mainly located in Africa, Asia and Latin America, concentrates most of the world population. Population ageing, caused by the demographic transition and a large decrease in fertility and mortality rates, make these countries face numerous challenges. Among regions in the Global South, the differences in life expectancy at birth were still large in 2022: almost 74 years in Latin America and the Caribbean but only 60 years in sub-Saharan Africa, with some countries barely exceeding 50. Due to many factors that play on health transition, high mortality countries suffer a cumulative burden from both infectious and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In addition, the lack of old-age mortality data is a dramatic issue when studying longevity in these countries.

Keywords

life expectancyhealth transitiondevelopmentlow- and middle-income countries (LMICs)population ageing
Type
Chapter
Information
The Biodemography of Ageing and Longevity , pp. 253 - 274
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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