Life expectancy gap between high and low income countries: 27 years in 1960, still 16 years in 2023. Low income nations gained +23 years. High income gained +12.
here's the methodology and sources so we're all on the same page:
Four World Bank income-group series (life expectancy at birth) pulled live from FRED at render time. Zero hand-entered numbers.
Series (annual, 1960–2023, not seasonally adjusted): • SPDYNLE00INHIC — High Income • SPDYNLE00INUMC — Upper-Middle Income • SPDYNLE00INLMC — Lower-Middle Income • SPDYNLE00INLIC — Low Income
The shaded band is the gap between High and Low income groups. The dashed line marks the largest single-year drop in the cross-group average (data-driven, not manually placed).
Caveats: • These are World Bank income-group aggregates — countries move between groups over time, so group composition is not static. • Within-group variation is large (e.g. not all "Low Income" countries are the same). • Life expectancy at birth is a period measure; it reflects current mortality rates, not a prediction of actual lifespan for anyone born today.