Healthspan, explained
Healthspan is the number of years you live in good health. Lifespan is the total number of years you live. The difference between them is the time spent with serious illness or disability, usually near the end of life. Worldwide, WHO puts life expectancy at 73.3 years in 2023 and healthy life expectancy at 62.8 years, a gap of about 10.5 years. This calculator estimates your own healthy years left from your age, sex and five lifestyle factors.
Global figures: WHO Global Health Observatory, 2023 estimates (updated October 2026).
How the healthspan calculator works
The calculator makes two estimates and subtracts one from the other:
- Total life expectancy. It starts from a baseline for your age and sex (76 years at birth for men and 81 for women, rising for people who have already reached older ages), then adds or removes years for your habits.
- The years in poorer health. It starts from a typical gap of 11 years and makes it shorter or longer for the same habits, within a range of 4 to 20 years.
Your healthspan age is your life expectancy minus that gap. Your healthy years remaining are your healthspan age minus your current age.
| Factor | Change to life expectancy | Change to years in poorer health |
|---|---|---|
| Physical activity | Sedentary −2 · Some 0 · Active +2 · Very active +3 | Sedentary +2 · Some 0 · Active −2.5 · Very active −3.5 |
| Smoking | Never 0 · Former −1 · Current −7 | Never 0 · Former +0.5 · Current +2 |
| Diet | Poor −2 · Average 0 · Good +2 | Poor +1.5 · Average 0 · Good −1.5 |
| Weight | Healthy 0 · Overweight −1 · Obese −3 | Healthy −0.5 · Overweight +1 · Obese +2.5 |
| Chronic conditions | −1.5 for each | +1.5 for each |
Worked example. A 45-year-old man with some activity, who has never smoked, eats an average diet, has a healthy weight and no chronic conditions: life expectancy 79, years in poorer health 10.5, healthspan to about age 69. That is about 24 healthy years from now.
The year values are rounded estimates informed by large cohort studies, not a validated clinical model. They are meant to show which habits matter most.
Lifespan vs healthspan: the numbers
People are living longer, but the extra years are not all healthy ones. A study of 183 WHO member states found the average gap between lifespan and healthspan widened to 9.6 years. Women had a gap about 2.4 years larger than men. The United States had the largest gap of any country, at 12.4 years (Garmany & Terzic, JAMA Network Open 2024).
| Measure (years) | Women | Men | Both sexes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy at birth | 76.1 | 70.6 | 73.3 |
| Healthy life expectancy (HALE) | 64.1 | 61.5 | 62.8 |
| Years lived in poorer health | 12.0 | 9.1 | 10.5 |
Healthy years by country. In WHO’s 2023 estimates for 185 countries, healthy life expectancy at birth ranges from 72.9 years in Singapore, 72.2 in Japan and 72.0 in South Korea to 44.7 in the Central African Republic. The gap between total and healthy years is largest in the United States (13.9 years), Australia and Canada (13.5 each), and women spend more years in poorer health than men in every country. See every country in our life expectancy by country table.
Healthy habits can add disease-free years, not just years. In two large US cohorts, women who at age 50 followed four or five low-risk habits (never smoking, a BMI of 18.5–24.9, at least 30 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity, moderate alcohol and a good diet) could expect 34.4 years free of cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, against 23.7 years for women with none. For men the figures were 31.1 and 23.5 years (Li et al., BMJ 2020).
The idea that healthy living can squeeze illness into a shorter period at the end of life is called the compression of morbidity (Fries, NEJM 1980).
How to add healthy years
- Get active. On this calculator, going from sedentary to active adds 4 years of life and takes 4.5 years off the gap, the biggest effect of any habit on the gap.
- Don’t smoke. Current smoking costs 7 years of life and adds 2 years in poorer health here. Our smoking calculator shows what quitting could win back.
- Eat well and keep a healthy weight. Moving from a poor to a good diet, or from obese to a healthy weight, each adds several healthy years.
- Manage chronic conditions early. Each condition takes 1.5 years off life expectancy and adds 1.5 years in poorer health in this model. Check your blood pressure and cholesterol with the heart age calculator.
Healthspan FAQ
What is healthspan?
Healthspan is the number of years you live in good health, free of serious chronic disease and disability. It is different from lifespan, which is your total years of life.
What is the difference between lifespan and healthspan?
Lifespan counts all your years. Healthspan counts only the healthy ones. Worldwide the gap is about 10.5 years, and in the United States 13.9 years, the largest of any country (WHO, 2023 estimates).
How many healthy years do I have left?
Enter your age, sex and habits in the calculator above. For example, a healthy 45-year-old man with average habits gets about 24 healthy years, to around age 69, and about 10 more years in poorer health after that.
How is healthspan calculated?
We estimate your total life expectancy from age and sex, then subtract an estimated number of years in poorer health. Both numbers change with your activity, smoking, diet, weight and chronic conditions.
What is healthy life expectancy (HALE)?
Healthy life expectancy is the WHO’s measure of the average number of years a person can expect to live in full health. Globally it was 62.8 years in 2023, against a life expectancy of 73.3 years (WHO Global Health Observatory).
Can you increase your healthspan?
Yes, on average. Not smoking, a healthy weight, regular activity, moderate alcohol and a good diet were linked to about 8 (men) to 11 (women) extra years free of cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes from age 50.
How much does type 2 diabetes shorten life expectancy?
It depends mostly on the age at diagnosis. In data on 1.5 million people from high-income countries, a diagnosis at age 30 meant about 14 fewer years of life, at age 40 about 10 and at age 50 about 6 (US death rates). Each decade of earlier diagnosis cost about 3–4 years (Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology 2023). Diabetes together with a heart attack or stroke was linked to about 12 fewer years at age 60 (JAMA 2015). This calculator uses a simple flat 1.5 years per condition, so for an early diagnosis it shows less of an effect than these studies found. Ask your doctor about your own outlook.
Last reviewed: · Sources · Educational estimate, not medical advice.
Sources
- WHO. COVID-19 eliminated a decade of progress in global level of life expectancy (World Health Statistics 2024), 2024.
- WHO, Global Health Observatory. Healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth and life expectancy at birth, 2023 estimates (data updated 1 October 2026), accessed 29 October 2026.
- Garmany A, Terzic A. Global healthspan-lifespan gaps among 183 World Health Organization member states. JAMA Network Open, 2024.
- Li Y et al. Healthy lifestyle and life expectancy free of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort study. BMJ, 2020.
- Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration. Life expectancy associated with different ages at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in high-income countries: 23 million person-years of observation. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol, 2023;11(10):731–742.
- Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration. Association of cardiometabolic multimorbidity with mortality. JAMA, 2015;314(1):52–60.
- Fries JF. Aging, natural death, and the compression of morbidity. N Engl J Med, 1980;303:130–135.