A new study has found that since 1990, life expectancy across the world has increased by more than six years, to an average of 71.5 years.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal The Lancet, showed a major decrease in deaths from cancer and cardiovascular disease in high-income countries; in other countries, deaths from diarrhea and neonatal complications were also down. That contributed to the decline, Time reports, as did the fact that medical funding for fighting infectious diseases has increased dramatically since 1990.
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