Global Health Estimates: Life expectancy and leading causes of death and disability

While it is important to know why people die, it is equally important to know how people live. 

Mortality and morbidity data is crucial to global health planning. Yet it is not always available and too often could be under-reported, especially in lower-income countries.  

Health systems worldwide depend on reliable data, including cause-of-death and disability information to respond effectively to changing epidemiological circumstances. 

Furthermore, the World Health Organization works in developing standards and best practices for data collection, data processing and synthesis, through the consolidated and improved International Classification of Diseases (ICD 11), on a digital platform that facilitates easier reporting of timely and accurate cause of death data. 

The ICD-11 marks an important step towards capturing real-time information to facilitate decision-making. Its widening use shows that more equitable availability and use of health information is feasible in all countries, whatever their income group. Countries that used to have low coverage or poor quality of coded mortality and morbidity data can now routinely generate and use health information that conforms to international standards.