By Victor Jack

LONDON (Reuters) – The COVID-19 pandemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War Two, according to a study published on Monday by Oxford University, with the life expectancy of American men dropping by more than two years.

The study examined 29 countries across the globe and found that life expectancy dropped by six months in some of them. This includes 22 countries in Europe, America, Chile, and the United States. In 27 out of 29 countries, there were decreases in life expectancy.

According to the university, most of these reductions in life expectancy could be attributed to COVID-19 deaths. According to Reuters, the number of deaths due to this new coronavirus is almost 5 million.

The paper was co-lead by Dr Ridhi Kazhyap. It is published in International Journal of Epidemiology.

The drop in life expectancy of men was greater than that for women in many countries. However, the biggest decline occurred in American men who had their life expectancy fall by 2.2 years compared to 2019.

The overall decline in life expectancy for men in most countries was more than one year, as compared with women in eleven countries. This wiped out any progress made on mortality in the past 5.6 years.

The increase in death rates in the United States was most noticeable among working-age people and under-60-year olds. However, in Europe the proportion of deaths occurring among older adults contributed significantly to this rise in mortality.

Kashyap appealed that more countries including those of low and middle income make available mortality data for future studies.

“We urgently call for the publication and availability of more disaggregated data to better understand the impacts of the pandemic globally,” she said.