# HALE (Healthy life expectancy)

HALE (Healthy Life Expectancy) is a WHO summary measure. It is the average number of years you can expect to live in full health. To get it, you take total life expectancy and subtract the time lived in less-than-perfect health. It is computed with the Sullivan method. That method combines two inputs: age-specific death rates from life tables, and age-specific rates of disability or ill health from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) framework. Each health state gets a 'disability weight', from 0 (perfect health) to 1 (death). The 'HALE gap' (life expectancy minus HALE) measures how many years of poor health you carry over a lifetime. Per WHO Global Health Observatory data (last updated 2019), Germany's HALE at birth is about 70 years, versus a total life expectancy of about 81. That implies roughly 11 years lived in compromised health. HALE underpins health-system comparisons between countries, and the Sustainable Development Goal 3 targets.

## Sources

- World Health Organization. (2024). Global Health Observatory: Healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/gho-ghe-hale-healthy-life-expectancy-at-birth
- Vos T, Lim SS, Abbafati C, et al.. (2020). Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9
- World Health Organization. (2024). World health statistics 2024: monitoring health for the SDGs. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240094703

---

_Canonical: https://usa-longevity.com/en/glossary/hale-healthy-life-expectancy · Part of Longevity Cities · Updated 2026-06-22_