Life Expectancy at Birth

The number of years a newborn would live if prevailing mortality patterns remain unchanged.

Latest available data

This page uses the latest available World Bank observation (2024). Country-level datasets often lag the current calendar year because they depend on official reporting and validation.

World Bank 2024

What is the global average Life Expectancy at Birth?

The global average Life Expectancy at Birth is 75.34 years as of 2024. Monaco has the highest at 86.5 years, while Kenya has the lowest at 63.83 years. Data covers 195 countries. Source: World Bank.

World Average
75.34 years
Highest
Monaco
86.5 years
Lowest
Kenya
63.83 years
Countries with Data
195
2024

Top Countries

#1 Monaco 86.5 years
#2 San Marino 85.82 years
#3 Hong Kong 85.39 years
#4 Kuwait 84.58 years
#5 Switzerland 84.41 years

Regional Averages

Europe
80.51 years
47 country
Americas
75.8 years
46 country
Asia
75.63 years
49 country
Oceania
73.12 years
18 country
Africa
68.51 years
35 country

Country Rankings

View full rankings
Life Expectancy at Birth — Country Rankings (2024)
# Country Value
1 Monaco 86.5 years
2 San Marino 85.82 years
3 Hong Kong 85.39 years
4 Kuwait 84.58 years
5 Switzerland 84.41 years
6 Liechtenstein 84.2 years
7 French Polynesia 84.19 years
8 Andorra 84.19 years
9 Sweden 84.06 years
10 Japan 84.04 years
11 Italy 83.95 years
12 Spain 83.89 years
13 Gibraltar 83.63 years
14 South Korea 83.63 years
15 Singapore 83.35 years
16 Macau 83.33 years
17 Israel 83.2 years
18 Luxembourg 83.2 years
19 Norway 83.16 years
20 Faroe Islands 83.08 years
21 United Arab Emirates 83.07 years
22 Australia 83.05 years
23 Ireland 83.01 years
24 France 82.98 years
25 Malta 82.96 years
26 Iceland 82.81 years
27 Qatar 82.52 years
28 Bermuda 82.49 years
29 Portugal 82.38 years
30 Finland 82.34 years
31 Belgium 82.3 years
32 Slovenia 82.29 years
33 Denmark 82.25 years
34 Canada 82.11 years
35 New Zealand 82.01 years
36 Austria 82 years
37 Netherlands 81.97 years
38 Puerto Rico 81.9 years
39 Greece 81.84 years
40 Cyprus 81.82 years
41 Bahrain 81.42 years
42 United Kingdom 81.39 years
43 Chile 81.36 years
44 Maldives 81.29 years
45 Isle of Man 81.09 years
46 Costa Rica 81 years
47 Germany 80.79 years
48 United States Virgin Islands 80.77 years
49 Cayman Islands 80.54 years
50 Saint Martin 80.44 years
51 Oman 80.25 years
52 Czechia 79.98 years
53 Albania 79.78 years
54 Panama 79.78 years
55 Estonia 79.3 years
56 Saudi Arabia 78.98 years
57 Northern Mariana Islands 78.95 years
58 Croatia 78.93 years
59 New Caledonia 78.92 years
60 United States 78.89 years
61 Poland 78.41 years
62 Slovakia 78.37 years
63 Armenia 78.32 years
64 Uruguay 78.29 years
65 Cuba 78.26 years
66 Turks and Caicos Islands 78.18 years
67 Bosnia and Herzegovina 78.04 years
68 China 78.02 years
69 Jordan 77.98 years
70 Lebanon 77.95 years
71 Peru 77.94 years
72 Colombia 77.91 years
73 Montenegro 77.89 years
74 Iran 77.85 years
75 Antigua and Barbuda 77.77 years
76 Sri Lanka 77.67 years
77 Ecuador 77.58 years
78 Argentina 77.54 years
79 British Virgin Islands 77.43 years
80 Guam 77.42 years
81 Turkey 77.42 years
82 Lithuania 77.2 years
83 Curaçao 76.99 years
84 Malaysia 76.82 years
85 Hungary 76.72 years
86 Tunisia 76.71 years
87 North Macedonia 76.62 years
88 Thailand 76.56 years
89 Sint Maarten 76.53 years
90 Aruba 76.5 years
91 Algeria 76.48 years
92 Romania 76.46 years
93 Latvia 76.43 years
94 Barbados 76.33 years
95 Seychelles 76.3 years
96 Cape Verde 76.22 years
97 Brazil 76.02 years
98 Serbia 75.97 years
99 Bulgaria 75.76 years
100 Brunei 75.5 years
101 Morocco 75.49 years
102 Grenada 75.37 years
103 Mexico 75.26 years
104 Nicaragua 75.1 years
105 Bangladesh 74.93 years
106 Vietnam 74.74 years
107 Bahamas 74.71 years
108 Ukraine 74.69 years
109 Georgia 74.66 years
110 Azerbaijan 74.58 years
111 Kazakhstan 74.53 years
112 Belarus 74.37 years
113 Paraguay 73.98 years
114 Dominican Republic 73.87 years
115 Mauritius 73.79 years
116 Suriname 73.76 years
117 North Korea 73.74 years
118 Belize 73.74 years
119 Trinidad and Tobago 73.62 years
120 Russia 73.44 years
121 Bhutan 73.26 years
122 Tonga 73.07 years
123 Honduras 73.04 years
124 American Samoa 72.99 years
125 Saint Lucia 72.85 years
126 Guatemala 72.75 years
127 Venezuela 72.67 years
128 Syria 72.56 years
129 Uzbekistan 72.53 years
130 Iraq 72.42 years
131 Kyrgyzstan 72.4 years
132 Mongolia 72.4 years
133 El Salvador 72.3 years
134 Saint Kitts and Nevis 72.28 years
135 India 72.24 years
136 Tajikistan 71.93 years
137 Samoa 71.83 years
138 Egypt 71.81 years
139 Vanuatu 71.65 years
140 Jamaica 71.61 years
141 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 71.38 years
142 Moldova 71.33 years
143 Dominica 71.29 years
144 Indonesia 71.29 years
145 Libya 71.12 years
146 Cambodia 70.82 years
147 Solomon Islands 70.69 years
148 Nepal 70.64 years
149 Guyana 70.32 years
150 Greenland 70.27 years
151 Turkmenistan 70.2 years
152 Philippines 69.95 years
153 São Tomé and Príncipe 69.91 years
154 Yemen 69.44 years
155 Palau 69.38 years
156 Botswana 69.29 years
157 Laos 69.23 years
158 Palestine 69.21 years
159 Senegal 68.92 years
160 Eritrea 68.89 years
161 Bolivia 68.74 years
162 Mauritania 68.71 years
163 Gabon 68.51 years
164 Uganda 68.49 years
165 Rwanda 68.02 years
166 Timor-Leste 67.9 years
167 Pakistan 67.8 years
168 Ethiopia 67.6 years
169 Malawi 67.56 years
170 Namibia 67.52 years
171 Fiji 67.46 years
172 Micronesia 67.36 years
173 Tuvalu 67.26 years
174 Tanzania 67.21 years
175 Myanmar 67.1 years
176 Marshall Islands 67.08 years
177 Comoros 67.02 years
178 Kiribati 66.6 years
179 Zambia 66.53 years
180 Sudan 66.52 years
181 South Africa 66.31 years
182 Afghanistan 66.29 years
183 Papua New Guinea 66.26 years
184 Djibouti 66.2 years
185 Gambia 66.06 years
186 Republic of the Congo 66 years
187 Ghana 65.7 years
188 Haiti 65.12 years
189 Angola 64.81 years
190 Eswatini 64.26 years
191 Guinea-Bissau 64.25 years
192 Cameroon 63.97 years
193 Equatorial Guinea 63.91 years
194 Madagascar 63.84 years
195 Kenya 63.83 years

Definition

Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn would live if the prevailing mortality patterns at the time of birth were to stay the same throughout its life. This metric serves as a vital indicator of overall population health and the efficiency of a nation's healthcare system.

How it is calculated

This indicator is calculated using period life tables, which apply age-specific death rates from a specific timeframe to a hypothetical cohort of newborns. It assumes that the mortality risks observed across all age groups during the year of birth will remain constant for the duration of the individual's life.

Interpretation

Higher values typically reflect advanced medical infrastructure, high standards of living, and effective public health policies. Lower values often signal significant socioeconomic challenges, including limited access to clean water, poor nutrition, or high rates of infectious diseases, with the global average influenced by 215 tracked countries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Life expectancy at birth represents the average number of years a newborn is expected to live, assuming that current death rates for all age groups remain constant. It is a fundamental statistical tool used by the World Bank to compare the general health and longevity of populations across different global regions.

According to the latest available data, Monaco has the highest life expectancy at birth, reaching 86.497 years. This high ranking among 215 countries is largely due to exceptional healthcare access, a high standard of living, and strong public health initiatives that support longevity from infancy through old age.

Based on recent estimates, Nigeria has the lowest life expectancy at birth among 215 countries, at 54.635 years. This lower figure is often the result of complex factors, including limited healthcare infrastructure, high maternal and infant mortality rates, and the impact of widespread communicable diseases on the general population.

Statisticians calculate this figure using age-specific mortality rates to build a period life table. By observing the number of deaths within each age group during a single year, they estimate how long a hypothetical group of newborns would live if those specific risks remained unchanged for their entire lives.

About this data
Source
World Bank SP.DYN.LE00.IN
Definition
The number of years a newborn would live if prevailing mortality patterns remain unchanged.
Coverage
Data for 195 countries (2024)
Limitations
Data may lag 1-2 years for some countries. Coverage varies by indicator.