Global Trends

Iceland differed from both the dominant reversal pattern and continued-growth cases by showing a persistent downward trend despite fluctuations. Japan, Norway, and Slovakia are noted as exceptions that did not clearly move away from growth. The study describes the trend reversal as almost universal but does not rigorously prove universality. Most countries in the dataset showed growth in the observed lifespan differential around 1960-1980 followed by stagnation or decline around 1990-2014. The reversal implies that male observed lifespan growth later matched or surpassed female observed lifespan growth.