I don't have an opinion about China, but just in general, I'm sure they don't have data from the future :-) I would say it is okay to say that about such predictions. There are others that don't rely as much on past data, but especially this kind of prediction surely is entirely based on numbers from the past, or do we have a model that reliably predicts those outcomes from at least present data (i.e. less data from people, but that it uses data about the circumstances, like amount & quality of sanitation and food)? If the model is purely based on human population statistics it's 100% past.
Well then all studies are ‘backward looking’ then and it’s a stupid criticism, and why mention it since it’s obvious and there’s no other way they could have done it.
You wrote
> How is it backward looking?
Which is clearly wrong! You even just admitted it.
Please don't try to make it look like it's the parent commenters fault now.
Do you think the data is wrong? Or interpreted wrong? You’ve presented some news articles about issues in China but I don’t know how these affects overall life expectancy in combination with all the other factors. Do you?
They seem to think they’ve taken account of likely future trends and ongoing health issues because they’ve said:
> Chinese newborns can look forward to 68.7 years of healthy life ahead of them
Do you think they’re mistaken somehow?