It is said that life is a terminal condition. Every year, some 140 million babies are born and some 54 million people die worldwide. The causes of death are many, ranging from infant and maternal mortality to various diseases, accidents, conflicts, natural disasters and, for some, extreme old age.
In late April 2022, Kane Tanaka of Japan died at the age of 119. Her ranking as the world’s oldest person passed to Sister Lucille Randon, a Frenchwoman well over 118.
Life expectancy is a tricky number to calculate. Worldwide, it averaged 72.81 in 2021, reflecting an increase of less than half of one percent over each of the preceding two years.
In 2022, life expectancy is predicted to be 82.81 overall in Canada. Our country ranks below Japan at 84.91 but well above Niger at 55.44.
What effect did COVID have on these numbers? It is almost impossible to say with accuracy, yet this question highlights many of the issues associated with data from the onset of the pandemic. At first, statisticians tried to track the number of cases, the number of hospitalizations, the number of ICU admissions and the number of deaths.
The challenge was exacerbated by the delay in reporting, especially in China, which did not provide data from the outset of the disease. By the time WHO declared a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, on March 1, 2020, data was already lost and inaccurate.
Some of the reasons were different methods of collection in different countries and even within countries. In Canada, for example, the provinces varied in the timing of data collection as well as the methodology for classifying cases as positive, hospitalizations and deaths. Now, over two years later, there is no data collected that can be considered complete and accurate in terms of counts.
Canadians are now their own monitors of COVID. Some people are tested frequently through employment or because they are at higher-than-average risk. Most Canadians are left to take their own rapid tests if they…