Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine: Special Issue 50-4bokBW | Page 8

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G. Stucki et al.
800
80 or over
700
60-79
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2000 2015 2030 2050 2000 2015 2030 2050 2000 2015 2030 2050 2000 2015 2030 2050
Low-income countries
Lower-middle-income
countries
Upper-middle-income
countries
High-income countries
Data source: United Nations (2015). World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision.
especially, the astonishing success of healthcare
over the last several decades. In high-income
countries, increased life expectancy is principally
the result of improved survival of people age 60
years or over; while in low-income countries
reduced mortality at younger ages is more influ-
ential (1). In the last 30 years, especially, people
have been surviving diseases and injuries (even
as serious as spinal cord injury and cancer) that
would in earlier decades have led to their death.
Better access to superior healthcare has also in-
creased survivorship rates, even in low-income
settings. Socio-economic development, mediated
through reduced child mortality and enhanced
gender equality, including access to education
and family plannin