With the number of people living in cities expected to increase to 70 percent of the global population by 2050, addressing large disparities in health outcomes in urban areas has significant potential to improve lives and livelihoods. Senior partner Hemant Ahlawat and colleagues estimate that improving health interventions can unlock 20 billion to 25 billion additional years of higher-quality life across cities globally (approximately five years per person living in urban areas). For individual cities, this could amount to anywhere from 10 million to 190 million higher-quality life years for their residents.
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A series of circles represent the ranges of potential quality-life gain in 12 cities illustrative of large cities around the world, with the gain measured in millions of disability-adjusted years of life. From largest to smallest, they are Tokyo at 140 million to 190 million, Mumbai at 130 million to 180 million, Lagos at 100 million to 130 million, Beijing at 80 million to 110 million, São Paolo at 80 million to 110 million, New York at 70 million to 100 million, Paris at 40 million to 60 million, London at 40 million to 50 million, Nairobi at 30 million to 40 million, Santiago at 30 million to 40 million, Singapore at 20 million to 30 million, and Dubai at 10 million to 20 million.
Source: Blue Zones Project; Forbes; Statista; Brian C. Thiede et al., “Income inequality across the rural-urban continuum in the United States, 1970–2016,” Rural Sociology, Dec 2020, Volume 85, Number 4; United Nations; US Census Bureau; World Bank.
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To read the article, see “How to achieve great health for all? Start in your city,” February 9, 2024.