Life Expectancy Vs. Healthy Life Expectancy

We confound two different ideas and I think it's important we make these ideas distinct so we may live better lives.

We hear about life expectancy. It has gone up, so we assume all is good. What is life expectancy?

The average period that a person may expect to live.

For the US it's 79 years.

What is healthy life expectancy?

How many of those years in your life expectancy will you live in a healthy state?

For the US it's 69 years.

The rate at which we are living healthy is not matching the rate we are expected to live. The bar for what is considered unhealthy is a high-bar, it must reach a certain severity. If we adjust for quality of life, it gets even worse.

Source: WHO 2013