Despite Covid-19 pandemic, average life expectancy of Bangladeshis goes up to 72.8 years

The average life expectancy of Bangladeshis has increased to 72.8 years in 2020, during the outbreak of coronavirus, as compared to 72.6 years in 2019, according to a report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

Planning Minister MA Mannan unveiled the report titled "Monitoring the Situation of Vital Statistics of Bangladesh" at the BBS office this morning.

The life expectancy of males in the country currently is 71.2 years, while that of females is 74.5 years, says the report.

In 2019, the life expectancy of men was 71.1 years and that of women was 74.2 years.

"Last year, the number of deaths due to cold-related diseases, especially pneumonia, was low," said Dr Saleh Mahmood Tusher of Dhaka Medical College Hospital's Covid unit, adding that this happened due to imposing health guidelines.

The average life expectancy might have increased for this reason, he also said.

"But it could have increased even more if Covid were not there," he added.

The average life expectancy of Bangladeshis has increased by 0.24 years every year for the last five years, the report said.

That means, it has increased 1.2 years in total in these five years. For men, the life expectancy increased by 0.9 percent, and for women it increased by 1.6 percent, the report adds.