- The world is off track to make meaningful progress towards universal health coverage by 2030. Progress in health coverage has stagnated since 2015, and the proportion of the population facing catastrophic levels of out-of-pocket health expenditure has been increasing steadily since 2000. This global trend is consistent across all regions and most countries.
- The universal health coverage index increased from 45 to 68 points between 2000 and 2021. However, recent progress in increasing coverage has slowed compared to the gains made before 2015, with an increase of just 3 points between 2015 and 2021, and has remained stable since 2019.
- Between 2000 and 2021, the proportion of the population without coverage by essential health services fell by about 15%, with minimal progress since 2015. This means that about 4.5 billion people were not fully covered by essential health services in 2021.
- About 2 billion people face financial hardship, including 1 billion with catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure (SDG Indicator 3.8.2), with 344 million people pushed deeper into extreme poverty by health costs.
- The COVID 19 pandemic continued to disrupt essential health services, with 92% of countries experiencing disruptions at the peak of the pandemic in 2021. 84% of countries continued to report such disruptions in 2022.
- More than 55% of the world’s population live in urban areas; this figure will increase to 68% by 2050. Nearly 40% of urban residents do not have access to safe sanitation and in many cases do not have access to adequate drinking water.а.
- An estimated 91% of people in urban areas breathe polluted air. Continued urbanization is expected to make cities epicenters of disease transmission, including vector-borne diseases.
- Almost 800 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth every day in 2020. In the same year, a maternal death occurred almost every two minutes. In 2020, nearly 95% of all maternal deaths occurred in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Providing skilled care by health professionals before, during and after childbirth helps save the lives women and newborns.
- The maternal mortality ratio (MMR, the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births) decreased by about 34% globally between 2000 and 2020. The proportion of the world’s population aged 60 and over will almost double, from 12% to 22% between 2015 and 2050. The number of people aged 60 and over exceeded the number of children under 5 years old in 2020. 80% of older people will live in low- and middle-income countries in 2050.
Population ageing has accelerated significantly compared to the past. All countries face the challenge of preparing their health and social security systems to cope with this demographic shift as effectively as possible.
