In places with high childhood mortality, for example, the expected number of life-years gained from saving a relatively young adult might be higher than a baby. This is because some proportion of babies will die from various diseases early in life, whereas young adults who have “made it through” are more likely to die in old age.
I’m skeptical this consideration actually applies in practice. This argument would have applied in the past but not any more; according to OWID, Somalia has the world’s highest infant mortality at 14%. So even there a young adult (say 1⁄3 of the way through their life) is probably going to have fewer remaining expected life years than a baby.
Hm, yeah, I think you’re right. I remember seeing some curve where the value of saving a life initially rises as a person ages, then falls, but it must be determined by the other factors mentioned by others rather than the mortality thing.
I’m skeptical this consideration actually applies in practice. This argument would have applied in the past but not any more; according to OWID, Somalia has the world’s highest infant mortality at 14%. So even there a young adult (say 1⁄3 of the way through their life) is probably going to have fewer remaining expected life years than a baby.
Hm, yeah, I think you’re right. I remember seeing some curve where the value of saving a life initially rises as a person ages, then falls, but it must be determined by the other factors mentioned by others rather than the mortality thing.