Hi Robert, thank you for the detailed and thoughtful response. I think the problem is that many who have responded are confusing what was measured here, life expectancy (good explanation here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy) with fatality rates. Life expectancy is “the mean length of life of a hypothetical cohort assumed to be exposed, from birth through death, to the mortality rates observed at a given year.”

This statistic is heavily impacted by deaths at a young age even if there is a substantial proportion of older people in the population. It is different from fatality rates which measure the number of deaths per 1000 or 10,000 people. I did not do the research nor write the research article. I am, rather, reporting the results of the study published by a respected organization in a highly reputable peer-reviewed journal. I hope that helps, Pat