Abstract
Background: Life expectancy is one the key indicators for investigating the overall health status of a population. Thus, analyzing the trend of this demographic summary measure is of great importance for planning health and social services in different societies. In this study, we aimed to model the long-term trend of life expectancy at birth in Iran and also compare the pattern of life expectancy in Iran with the whole population across Asia over the past six decades.Methods: The annual life expectancy at birth data sets were extracted for Iran and total Asia between 1960 and 2020 from the database provided by the Our World in Data website. The trend analysis was performed using the joinpoint regression model. Results: During the study period, Iranians and Asians have, respectively, experienced about 32 and 28.6 year increase in life expectancy. In addition, the obtained results from the joinpoint analysis showed that, despite the noticeable decline in life expectancy during the Iran-Iraq war, the average annual percent change of life expectancy in Iranian people was about 0.1 higher than total Asian population (0.9% vs. 0.8%).Conclusions: Despite protracted wars, poverty and social inequality in some parts of Asia, life expectancy has drastically increased in this continent during the last decades. However, life expectancy in Iranians and Asians is still much lower than those who live in wealthier parts of the world. To elevate life expectancy to a higher level, the policy makers in Asian countries should put more efforts into improving the standards of living and access to health facilities in their societies.