Life expectancy worldwide statistics & facts

Life expectancy worldwide at a glance

A baby born in 2026 can expect to live 73.8 years on average, according to the latest projections of the UN Population Division. That is 27 years more than in 1950, when global life expectancy at birth was 46.4 years. Women live longer than men almost everywhere: the global figure is 76.4 years for women and 71.2 years for men. Yet the gap between countries remains wide. Among countries and areas with at least one million people, life expectancy ranges from 85.9 years in Hong Kong and 85.1 years in Japan to 55.0 years in Nigeria and 55.6 years in Chad, a difference of more than 30 years.

This report looks at life expectancy across 236 countries and areas, how it has changed since 1950, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gap between women and men and between rich and poor countries, and what the UN expects by 2100. It builds on the overview in our world population statistics and focuses on the detail behind the global average.

From 46 to 74 years: the long rise

Global life expectancy has risen in almost every decade since 1950. It passed 60 years around 1980, 66 years in 2000 and 70 years in 2010. Most of the early gains came from falling infant and child mortality, as vaccines, antibiotics, clean water and better nutrition spread. The two visible setbacks in the series are the famine years around 1960, when China experienced a severe spike in deaths, and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021.

A gap that persists: Women have outlived men throughout, and the UN expects a female advantage of about 4 years even in 2100.

Women have outlived men throughout the period, and the gap has widened from 4.0 years in 1950 to 5.3 years in 2026. Men die younger at almost every age, partly because of higher rates of smoking, alcohol use, road deaths, violence and heart disease. The UN projects that the gap will narrow slowly to about 3.9 years by 2100, when life expectancy is expected to reach 79.8 years for men and 83.7 years for women. Population totals by sex are covered in our report on the world population by gender.

The pace of improvement has slowed. Global life expectancy rose by about 20 years between 1950 and 2000, but the UN expects a gain of only about 8 years between 2026 and 2100. Much of the easy progress against infectious disease has been made, and further gains depend increasingly on reducing deaths from chronic diseases in middle and old age.

The COVID-19 setback and recovery

The pandemic caused the largest fall in global life expectancy in decades. According to the UN, it dropped from 72.6 years in 2019 to 71.9 years in 2020 and 70.9 years in 2021, a loss of 1.7 years in two years. It rebounded to 72.6 years in 2022 and 73.2 years in 2023, back above its pre-pandemic level. The World Health Organization, which uses slightly different methods, put global life expectancy at 73.3 years in 2023, close to the 73.4 years it recorded for 2019. Healthy life expectancy, the number of years lived in good health, reached 62.8 years in 2023 according to WHO, still 0.4 years below its 2019 level.

Latin America hit hardest: Bolivia lost 6.4 years of life expectancy in two years, and seven of the ten largest falls were in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The losses were heaviest in Latin America, where several countries combined high infection rates with crowded housing and large informal workforces. Life expectancy fell by 6.4 years in Bolivia, 5.6 years in Paraguay, 4.8 years in Mexico and 4.7 years in Peru between 2019 and 2021. Outside the region, Lebanon, South Africa and Oman also recorded falls of 4 years or more. In the United States, the UN estimates a fall from 78.9 years in 2019 to 76.4 years in 2021, followed by a recovery to 79.3 years in 2023. Some countries, including Japan and China, saw little change. Our COVID-19 pandemic statistics cover reported and excess deaths in detail.

Countries with the highest life expectancy

East Asian and western European countries dominate the top of the ranking. Among countries and areas with at least one million people, Hong Kong leads with 85.9 years in 2026, followed by Japan with 85.1 years, South Korea with 84.6 years, Switzerland with 84.4 years and Australia with 84.3 years. Italy, Singapore, Spain, Norway, Sweden and France all exceed 83.5 years. Including very small states, Monaco (86.7 years) and San Marino (86.0 years) rank above Hong Kong.

East Asia leads: Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea top the ranking, with women in Hong Kong and Japan expected to live beyond 88 years.

The leaders share a few common features: low rates of heart disease and obesity, universal health coverage, high incomes and, in the East Asian cases, diets low in red meat and sugar. Women in Hong Kong and Japan have a life expectancy of 88.5 and 88.2 years respectively, while men in Australia and Switzerland can expect to live about 82.5 years. South Korea is the most striking example of progress: its life expectancy has risen by more than 20 years since the 1970s. In total, 38 countries and areas with at least one million people have a life expectancy of 80 years or more, but together they hold less than 10 percent of the world population.

Countries with the lowest life expectancy

All of the countries with the lowest life expectancy are in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has the lowest figure of any country with at least one million people, at 55.0 years, followed by Chad at 55.6 years, South Sudan at 58.0 years, the Central African Republic at 58.2 years and Lesotho at 58.6 years. Somalia, Mali, Guinea, Benin and Burkina Faso complete the bottom ten, all below 62 years.

A 30-year gap: A newborn in Nigeria can expect to live about 31 years less than a newborn in Hong Kong.

High child and maternal mortality, infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis, conflict and weak health systems explain most of the gap. In Nigeria, the female advantage is only 0.7 years, compared with a global average of 5.3 years, a sign of very high maternal mortality. Even so, the region has made large gains: life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa rose from 51.0 years in 2000 to 62.7 years in 2026. Child deaths, a major driver of the gap, are covered in our report on child health and nutrition.

The spread between countries has narrowed over time. In 1950 the difference between the highest and lowest life expectancy among countries with at least one million people was 57 years, in part because of war and famine. By 2000 it had fallen to 36 years, and in 2026 it is about 31 years.

Life expectancy by world region

The regional picture shows both convergence and persistent gaps. Australia and New Zealand together have the highest regional life expectancy at 84.0 years in 2026, followed by Europe and Northern America at 79.7 years and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia at 77.7 years. Sub-Saharan Africa remains lowest at 62.7 years, about 11 years below the world average, while the Pacific islands of Oceania stand at 68.1 years.

Fastest catch-up in Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa gained 11.7 years between 2000 and 2026, more than any other region.

Regions starting from a lower level have gained the most. Between 2000 and 2026, life expectancy rose by 11.7 years in sub-Saharan Africa and 9.7 years in Central and Southern Asia, but by 5.3 years in Europe and Northern America and 4.5 years in Australia and New Zealand. The UN expects this catch-up to continue, with sub-Saharan Africa reaching 66.8 years by 2050.

Rich and poor countries

Income is one of the strongest predictors of how long people live. In 2026, life expectancy averages 81.9 years in high-income countries and 76.8 years in upper-middle-income countries, against 70.2 years in lower-middle-income and 65.5 years in low-income countries. The absolute gap between high-income and low-income countries has nonetheless shrunk dramatically, from 30.6 years in 1950 to 16.4 years in 2026.

The gap halves: The difference between high-income and low-income countries fell from about 31 years in 1950 to about 16 years in 2026.

The fastest gains have come in low-income countries, where life expectancy more than doubled from 31.2 years in 1950 to 65.5 years in 2026. Health spending, vaccination campaigns and programmes against malaria and HIV have all played a part. Within high-income countries, chronic diseases and behavioural risks now drive most differences, as our report on health risk factors in the US shows for the United States.

Where women outlive men by the most

In every country and area covered by the UN, women are expected to outlive men in 2026. The size of the gap varies enormously. It is largest in Russia, where women can expect to live 79.5 years and men only 67.9 years, a difference of 11.6 years. Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Lithuania, Vietnam, Mongolia and Moldova all have gaps of 9 years or more.

Russian men lose most: Men in Russia can expect to live 11.6 years less than women, mainly because of alcohol, smoking and cardiovascular disease.

The largest gaps are found in the former Soviet Union and central and eastern Europe, where high alcohol consumption, smoking and cardiovascular disease among men are long-standing problems. The smallest gaps are in parts of West Africa and the Gulf: in Togo and Nigeria, women outlive men by less than one year, and in Bahrain and Qatar by less than two years. In the Gulf states, a large population of mostly male migrant workers who are relatively young and healthy affects the figures.

Life expectancy in the most populous countries

Because the global average is weighted by population, the largest countries shape it most. India, the most populous country, has a life expectancy of 72.7 years in 2026, just below the world average, while China stands at 79.0 years and the United States at 79.8 years. Among the twelve most populous countries, Japan leads with 85.1 years and Nigeria is lowest at 55.0 years.

China closes in on the US: Life expectancy in China, 79.0 years, is now less than one year below that of the United States.

The comparison between China and the United States is notable. In 1950 the UN estimates life expectancy at 43.8 years in China and 68.1 years in the United States. By 2026 the gap has narrowed to less than one year, partly because the United States has seen slower progress than other high-income countries since 2010. More on population trends in both countries is available in our reports on the population of China and the US population.

Life expectancy to 2100

The UN projects that global life expectancy will reach 77.0 years by 2050 and 81.7 years by 2100. Every region is expected to improve, with the largest gains in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Rising life expectancy, together with falling birth rates, is the main reason the world population is getting older, a shift explored in our report on the global ageing population. Longer lives also mean that deaths will increasingly occur at older ages and from chronic diseases, as our report on the global death rate shows.

There are risks to these projections. Pandemics, conflict, the obesity epidemic and antimicrobial resistance could slow progress, while new treatments for heart disease, cancer and dementia could speed it up. Life expectancy is closely linked to fertility and population growth, which are covered in our reports on the global fertility rate and population growth by country.

Life expectancy in numbers

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