All over the world, people are now living longer, but they get sick more often and have disturbances brought by modern life, according to the results of research published in the medical journal "Lancet".
The last major research was done in 1990, when the biggest health problem was the mortality of children under the age of five, since more than ten million children died annually.
Since then, thanks to vaccination campaigns against polio and other diseases, that number has been reduced to seven million.
Malnutrition used to be the greatest danger to children, whereas now, except in Africa, children are more likely to overeat than starve.
With more children surviving, childhood illnesses, chronic diseases and disabilities that come later in life are taking more lives, according to the largest-ever study of life expectancy and health problems funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The biggest worldwide health hazard now is high blood pressure, followed by smoking and alcohol.
"The greatest burden on health in the world is not premature death, but chronic diseases, injuries, mental illnesses, as well as all diseases of the bones and joints," said one of the leaders of the research, Christopher Marie, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
Life expectancy has been increased almost everywhere, as well as the number of years that people live with loss of sight or hearing, or mental problems such as depression.
More than 480 researchers from 50 countries participated in the research and processed the data until 2010. As in 1990 and 2010, Japan is at the top in terms of life expectancy - 79 years for men and 86 for women.
Homicide is the third leading cause of death among men in Latin America, and the 20th leading cause of death worldwide.
In the USA it is on the 21st place, and in Western Europe on the 57th place. Suicide is the 21st leading cause of death in the world, but the ninth leading cause of death for women in Asia. In North America, suicide is the 14th leading cause of death, and in Western Europe it is the 15th leading cause of death.
Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death worldwide.
Lung cancer is in the 5th place, while the other cancers - liver, stomach and colon - are also in the top 20. AIDS is the 35th cause of death in 1990, two decades later it is in the sixth place.
While chronic diseases are the most common cause of death almost all over the world, in Africa the biggest threats are AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
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