Health statistics for South Asia: longer lives, new diseases
Child mortality has fallen sharply. Heart disease, diabetes and hypertension are rising to take its place.
The WHO's annual statistics show life expectancy in the region rising by around a decade since 2000, driven by falls in child and maternal mortality. [1]
The burden of disease has shifted accordingly: non-communicable conditions now account for the majority of deaths across South Asia. [2]
The hypertension gap
Studies in low- and middle-income countries find most people with high blood pressure are undiagnosed, and most of those diagnosed are not controlled. Cheap drugs exist; the system to deliver them does not. [3]
References
- 1.
World Health Statistics 2025. World Health Organization, May 2025.
- 2.
Global burden of disease: findings for South Asia. GBD 2021 Collaborators, The Lancet, 2024.
- 3.
Hypertension in low- and middle-income countries. Various, BMJ, 2023.
Cite this story
Dispatch Report (2025) ‘Health statistics for South Asia: longer lives, new diseases’, 12 May. Available at: https://thedispatchreport.com/article/health-statistics-for-south-asia-longer-lives-new-diseases (Accessed: 5 October 2026).
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