Potential Gains in Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy by Reducing Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases in 188 Countries: A Population-Based Study

•Meeting Sustainable Development Goals target 3.4 would have substantial effects on life expectancy globally.•Reducing premature mortality and disability from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) at once and attaching equal importance to each lead to a sizable improvement in health-adjusted life expectancy.•In the context of a marked shift toward a greater proportion of burden because of years lived with disability from NCDs, the global effect of the equal emphasis on reducing disability and premature mortality from NCDs and its capacity to enable improvement in quality of life provides a crucial reference for shaping policy and identifying priorities for interventions.