Troubling trends

Global birth rates are down and deaths from so-called “lifestyle” diseases are up, according to a just-released study analyzing health trends worldwide. The Global Burden of Disease, published Saturday (Nov. 10) in the medical journal The Lancet, collated peer-reviewed assessments, coordinated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. Among the findings:

• Although the world’s population increased over 87 million a year between 2007 and 2017, average births per woman have dropped by half since 1950.

• In more than 90 countries, the fertility rate is fewer than two children per woman, below “replacement levels.”

• Population continues to grow as death rates decline and “momentum” from previous decades persists.

• Nearly 52 percent of the world’s 55.9 million deaths last year could be attributed to four “preventable” factors: high blood pressure, smoking, high blood sugar and high body mass index.

Check thelancet.com/gbd for comprehensive reports.