Figure 6 summarises these regional patterns, in relation to the proportion of regional burden and attributable DALYs per 1000 people. Regions in figure 6 are ordered by mean age of death, a marker of the epidemiological transition. Figure 6 shows the clear transition away from risk factors for childhood communicable disease towards risk factors for non-communicable disease, with increasing mean age at death. This change is apparent from the decrease in burden of disease attributable to undernutrition and unimproved water and sanitation, with increased mean age at death, especially when the effect of risks is assessed by DALYs per 1000 people (figure 6C, D). A clear general shift occurs towards a larger proportion of overall burden arising from risk factors for non-communicable diseases, particularly metabolic risks and dietary risk factors (figure 6A, B). However, the absolute burden of risk factors for non-communicable disease does not increase with increasing mean age at death. Rather, its magnitude is lower in high-income regions than in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia (figure 6C, D), showing the double burden of communicable and non-communicable disease in regions early in the epidemiological transition.
