Tanzanians live longer in EAC

By Mnaku Mbani

Tanzanians are said to be living longer than their counterparts in East African Community (EAC) after the new report revealing that they live one year than Rwandese, four years than Kenyans and seven years than Ugandans.

The report which is part of the study on financial sector and insurance in East Africa published by the Tanzania Knowledge Network (TKNET) has revealed that life expectancy for Tanzanians increased to 64 years in 2015 from 49.1 years in 2000.

However, the Tanzanians life expectancy is 5.5 years below the global average level of 70.5 years but according to the fertility rate, Uganda is leading by 5.9 per cent in East African region, while Tanzania becomes the second with the fertility rate of 5.1 per cent as of 2015.

This means that the Tanzanians life expectancy has improved by 15 years over the last 15 years, but below Rwandese who have improved by 19 years over the period under review.

According to the report, the current live expectancy for Rwandese is now 63.1 years from 44.4 years in 2000 while Kenyans life expectancy has improved to 60.6 years last year from 51.9 years in 2000, which was the highest in EAC. In 2000, the global average life expectancy was 65.6 years.

The report has also said that the median age of population for Tanzania and Uganda was the lowest in East Africa with 17.3 and 15.9 years respectively, which indicate that the two countries have the huge youngest population in the region.

Rwanda has the highest median age of population with 19.2 years followed by Kenyans which have the median age rate of 18.9. However, the median age of population in East Africa was lower than the global average of 29.6 years.

According to the United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs Population Division “The World Population Prospect 2015 Revision, Seven in ten people in Tanzania are aged between 0-24 years, which is the second below Ugandans, which have 68.4 per cent of the population of the same age group.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington also published its report last year saying people are now living much longer worldwide than they were two decades ago, as death rates from infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease have fallen.
According to a new, first-ever journal publication of country-specific cause-of-death data for 188 countries causes of death vary widely by country, but, at the global level, drug use disorders and chronic kidney disease account for some of the largest percent increases in premature deaths since 1990.
“Death rates from some cancers, including pancreatic cancer and kidney cancer, also increased. At the same time, countries have made great strides in reducing mortality from diseases such as measles and diarrhea, with 83 per cent and 51 per cent reductions, respectively, from 1990 to 2013,” says a report.
Globally, three conditions – ischemic heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – claimed the most lives in 2013, accounting for nearly 32% of all deaths.

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