mydigitallife

The headline is correct. The average life expectancy in South Africa has fallen to 47. Yes, forty-seven. Not 74, 97 or 147 but 47.
The other shock is that life-expectancy in this country is falling. The trend in the past has been towards an increasing life expectancy over the years. England now has an average life expectancy of 79.
This 47 life expectancy figure is very interesting. How many people do you know in their eighties or nineties? I know many. More and more people now reach - and pass - the magic 100th birthday. So while many people are living longer than ever before, many must be dying younger than ever before. Remember - 47 is the average. It includes the octogenerians and those that have reached 110.
What the stats sadly tell us is that there are a huge number of young deaths. Deaths of babies, children, tennagers and people in their twenties. It tells a tragic story of an AIDS crises that was not addressed. It tells of poverty and disease. It tells of TB. It tells of violence.
For a country that is fairly developed (as compared to the under-developed world) we are really not doing well. Without checking the stats, I would be willing to wager that we are probably very close to the bottom of the life expectancy figures.
47 reminds of of medieval Britain where the poor died like flies.
Hopefully this is the last time that we get stats like these. We need to see that figure rising, and rising fast.

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