In most countries, the median age of covid deaths was close to the average life expectancy or even slightly above (e.g. 78 years in the USA and 80 to 86 years in western Europe). Therefore, despite high excess mortality in some countries, the temporary impact on life expectancy in 2020 was limited: it ranged from zero (in countries hardly affected by the coronavirus) to minus 2.1 years in US males.

For comparison, the 1918/19 “Spanish flu” pandemic, which in contrast to covid killed many young people, lowered US life expectancy by about 15 years or 27%, from 55 years to 40 years. Thus, the “Spanish flu” had lowered US life expectancy about eight times more in absolute terms and about 14 times more in relative terms than covid did in 2020 (1.8 years or 2%).