Over time, disparities in life expectancy at birth have declined across major areas and geographical regions, due to improvements in standards of living, nutrition, public hygiene, levels of education (especially female education) and technology, particularly simple and low-cost health interventions in the developing world (see figures II. As a result, there have been marked reductions in deaths due to infectious diseases, congenital and prenatal conditions, and other ill-defined causes. Since 2000, however, stronger economic growth has gone hand-in-hand with faster progress in health, but the recovery has not been sufficient enough to reduce the gap with other developing countries significantly.