10 Countries with the highest life expectancies

Countries By Life Expectancy

When children are born, their parents or society expect them to live as long as possible. However, the number of years a person can live depends on their exposure to risks, accidents, diseases, birth events (complications at birth), and the general life expectancy of the society they are born into.

According to the United Nations, the global average life expectancy is 72.6 years. However, women have higher life expectancy than men, despite their higher morbidity rate. Today’s global average life expectancy is higher than any other nation in 1950. Norway, which had the best health care system, had a life expectancy of 72.3 years in 1950. Over the last seven decades, the global average life expectancy has increased by about 25 years. People from all world regions now live a little longer than they did 70 years ago.

However, the average life expectancies of the populations of countries continue to vary widely across the world from 89.4 years for Monaco to 53.25 for Afghanistan. Several factors like the status of economic wellbeing of the nation, living standards, healthcare facilities, education, health behaviors of the population, etc., influence life expectancy.

This article discusses how the life expectancy varies across the world and which countries have the lowest and highest life expectancies and why.

What Is Life Expectancy?

Life expectancy is the average number of years that a person in a given population is expected to live after attaining “X” years. Mostly, the base age (age X) selected for determining the life expectancy of an individual is 0.0 years. That is, the years a person is expected to live immediately they are born. However, for policy analysis, such as determining an individual’s years of Social Security and Medicare benefits, base ages such as 65 or 75 are often used.

Although life expectancy is the age a person is expected to be at the point of his/her death, not everyone will die at the indicated age even if the mortality pattern in the society remains constant. Some people may die earlier or later since exposure to risks leading to death does not remain uniform in one’s lifetime. Thus, life expectancy is the average years and not the actual years a person is expected to live.

Countries With Life Expectancy Of Over 80 Years

Rank	Country	Life Expectancy In years
1	Monaco	89.40
2	Singapore	86.19
3	Japan	84.65
4	San Marino	83.68
5	Canada	83.62
6	Iceland	83.45
7	Andorra	83.23
8	Israel	83.15
9	Switzerland	83.03
10	Malta	83.00
11	Australia	82.89
12	South Korea	82.78
13	Luxembourg	82.78
14	Italy	82.67
15	Sweden	82.60
16	France	82.39
17	Liechtenstein	82.36
18	Norway	82.35
19	New Zealand	82.33
20	Spain	82.21
21	Austria	82.07
22	Netherlands	81.95
23	Belgium	81.65
24	Slovenia	81.61
25	Finland	81.55
26	Denmark	81.45
27	Ireland	81.45
28	Germany	81.30
29	United Kingdom	81.30
30	Portugal	81.29
31	Greece	81.28
32	United States	80.43

Over 100 countries have a higher life expectancy than the global average. Over the years, most countries have achieved improved health care systems, leading to an increase in average life expectancy. 32 countries have a life expectancy of at least 80 years, the majority of which are European countries. Monaco, a city state and microstate along the French Riviera in Western Europe has the highest life expectancy of 89.4 years. It is followed by Singapore, a city-state in Southeast Asia with a life expectancy of 86.19. The next three positions are occupied by Japan (84.65), San Marino (83.68), and Canada (83.62). The United States ranks 32nd with a life expectancy of 80.43.

10 Countries With Highest Life Expectancy

Top 10 countries by average life expectancy.

Life expectancy is highest in most of the world’s wealthiest countries. Of the 32 countries with life expectancy of more than 80 years, majority are in Europe. Some Singapore, Japan, Israel, and South Korea are in Asia, Canada and the United States are in North America, and Australia and New Zealand are in Oceania. These countries have some of the best health care systems, supported by strong governmental policies on health, advanced medicine, and improved nutrition. Besides health care, the high standard of living and provision of standard education is also responsible for the high life expectancy in these countries. In some Asian countries like Japan, regular physical activities and healthy diets also contribute to the high life expectancy.

Countries With Life Expectancy Below 65 Years

Rank	Country	Life Expectancy in years
1	Afghanistan	53.25
2	Central African Republic	55.07
3	Somalia	55.32
4	Mozambique	56.49
5	South Sudan	58.60
6	Chad	58.73
7	Lesotho	58.90
8	Eswatini	59.13
9	Niger	59.70
10	Sierra Leone	60.19
11	Nigeria	60.87
12	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	61.43
13	Congo, Republic of the	61.69
14	Angola	61.71
15	Cote d'Ivoire	61.80
16	Benin	61.82
17	Mali	62.01
18	Cameroon	62.79
19	Zimbabwe	62.83
20	Burkina Faso	63.06
21	Guinea-Bissau	63.26
22	Guinea	63.53
23	Senegal	63.83
24	Mauritania	64.86

Most of the countries with the lowest life expectancies are in Africa. 24 countries have life expectancy of less than 65 years. 23 of the 24 countries are in Africa. Afghanistan, the only country from Asia among these 24 countries, has the lowest life expectancy in the world of only 53.25 years.

Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Lesotho have the world’s lowest life expectancies at 54 years. North African countries like Algeria (77.79), Tunisia (76.57), and and Morocco (73.56) have the highest life expectancies in Africa. These North African countries have allocations for their health care systems, with health interventions that benefit the population, leading to higher life expectancies than Sub-Saharan African countries.

10 Countries With Lowest Life Expectancy

Most African countries and some developing countries globally have lower life expectancies for several reasons. However, the major contributing factor is inadequate access to healthcare. Most households have low incomes or financial resources to access proper healthcare. Besides access to healthcare, widespread of diseases such as HIV, cancer, malaria, and diabetes affect the quality of life and life expectancy in most African xountries.

In Afghanistan, apart from lack of adequate health care and malnutrition, constant conflicts, and wars contribute to high death rates and lower life expectancy.

Location Map of Bottom 10 Countries By Life Expectancy

Calculating Life Expectancy

Life expectancy is estimated by predicting an individual’s survival probability, based on trends of the age-specific mortality rates. Estimating the age-specific mortality rate involves counting the number of deaths within a specific age range at a given time then dividing by the total number of people of the same age range who are alive at a given point within the same interval. For instance, the number of people aged 20-25 years who died in 2010 divided by the number of people aged 20-25 who are alive in 2020.

The fraction obtained above is used to calculate a “life table” which shows the evolving survival probabilities and life expectancies by age. There are two categories of life expectancy; cohort and period life expectancy. Cohort life expectancy is the mean life length of all individuals born in a specific year. Period life expectancy is the average life length of all individuals born in a specific year assumed to be exposed to observed mortality rates at a given time.

Why Measure Life Expectancy?

Life expectancy is an important aspect of demography. It highlights the characteristics and future trends of a given population. It is one of the tools policymakers use in measuring a nation’s Human Development Index. Countries with higher life expectancies score higher HDI than countries with lower life expectancies. Apart from HDI, it also helps in describing an area’s physical quality of life. Populations with high average life expectancies are assumed to be enjoying better life because they have access to essential facilities, like hospitals.

Life expectancy also helps in implementing social support programs such as pension and social security funds. Knowing future trends in life expectancy enables governments to forecast the number of recipients likely to benefit and the amount to allocate for these social programs. Health experts can also consider life expectancy when choosing a health intervention strategy.

Rank	Country	Life Expectancy in years
1	Monaco	89.40
2	Singapore	86.19
3	Japan	84.65
4	San Marino	83.68
5	Canada	83.62
6	Iceland	83.45
7	Andorra	83.23
8	Israel	83.15
9	Switzerland	83.03
10	Malta	83.00
11	Australia	82.89
12	South Korea	82.78
13	Luxembourg	82.78
14	Italy	82.67
15	Sweden	82.60
16	France	82.39
17	Liechtenstein	82.36
18	Norway	82.35
19	New Zealand	82.33
20	Spain	82.21
21	Austria	82.07
22	Netherlands	81.95
23	Belgium	81.65
24	Slovenia	81.61
25	Finland	81.55
26	Denmark	81.45
27	Ireland	81.45
28	Germany	81.30
29	United Kingdom	81.30
30	Portugal	81.29
31	Greece	81.28
32	United States	80.43
33	Bahrain	79.67
34	Qatar	79.58
35	Chile	79.57
36	Cyprus	79.51
37	Czechia	79.50
38	Panama	79.47
39	Costa Rica	79.41
40	Cuba	79.41
41	United Arab Emirates	79.37
42	Albania	79.23
43	Kuwait	78.90
44	Saint Lucia	78.71
45	Lebanon	78.53
46	Poland	78.53
47	Barbados	78.31
48	Uruguay	78.19
49	Brunei	78.14
50	Paraguay	78.13
51	Argentina	78.07
52	Slovakia	78.07
53	Dominica	77.96
54	Algeria	77.79
55	Ecuador	77.76
56	Sri Lanka	77.75
57	Bosnia and Herzegovina	77.74
58	Estonia	77.63
59	Antigua and Barbuda	77.55
60	Montenegro	77.51
61	Thailand	77.41
62	Tonga	77.29
63	Georgia	77.25
64	Croatia	76.97
65	Hungary	76.95
66	Mexico	76.94
67	Libya	76.93
68	Colombia	76.91
69	Saint Kitts and Nevis	76.83
70	Mauritius	76.70
71	Maldives	76.69
72	Oman	76.64
73	Tunisia	76.57
74	Serbia	76.56
75	Solomon Islands	76.45
76	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	76.43
77	Saudi Arabia	76.40
78	China	76.31
79	Romania	76.30
80	Turkey	75.96
81	Bahamas, The	75.87
82	Malaysia	75.87
83	Armenia	75.86
84	Seychelles	75.84
85	Jordan	75.75
86	Latvia	75.65
87	Lithuania	75.61
88	Belize	75.56
89	Jamaica	75.49
90	Grenada	75.48
91	Bulgaria	75.30
92	Vietnam	75.25
93	El Salvador	75.11
94	Iran	75.06
95	Uzbekistan	75.03
96	Brazil	74.98
97	Peru	74.96
98	Samoa	74.92
99	Trinidad and Tobago	74.92
100	Honduras	74.90
101	Vanuatu	74.87
102	Nicaragua	74.51
103	Bangladesh	74.43
104	Marshall Islands	74.38
105	Palau	74.38
106	Micronesia, Federated States of	74.17
107	Belarus	74.01
108	Egypt	74.01
109	Syria	74.01
110	Fiji	74.00
111	Azerbaijan	73.88
112	Suriname	73.57
113	Morocco	73.56
114	Cabo Verde	73.47
115	Ukraine	73.18
116	Iraq	72.90
117	Indonesia	72.82
118	Guatemala	72.63
119	Dominican Republic	72.28
120	Kazakhstan	72.25
121	Venezuela	72.22
122	Malawi	72.16
123	Moldova	72.16
124	Russia	72.16
125	Nepal	72.12
126	Kyrgyzstan	72.07
127	Korea, North	71.65
128	Guyana	71.59
129	Turkmenistan	71.54
130	Bhutan	71.50
131	Mongolia	71.08
132	Togo	70.99
133	Bolivia	70.70
134	Philippines	70.32
135	India	70.03
136	Tanzania	69.90
137	Papua New Guinea	69.86
138	Burma	69.62
139	Timor-Leste	69.62
140	Gabon	69.37
141	Pakistan	69.37
142	Kenya	69.32
143	Tajikistan	69.06
144	Ghana	69.01
145	Uganda	68.58
146	Tuvalu	68.07
147	Ethiopia	67.90
148	Madagascar	67.86
149	Nauru	67.62
150	Kiribati	67.59
151	Yemen	67.18
152	Burundi	67.07
153	Comoros	66.90
154	Sudan	66.79
155	Sao Tome and Principe	66.72
156	Eritrea	66.51
157	Equatorial Guinea	66.35
158	Cambodia	66.27
159	Gambia, The	66.15
160	Laos	66.00
161	Zambia	65.92
162	Namibia	65.87
163	Haiti	65.61
164	Rwanda	65.48
165	Botswana	65.24
166	Liberia	65.10
167	South Africa	65.04
168	Djibouti	65.00
169	Mauritania	64.86
170	Senegal	63.83
171	Guinea	63.53
172	Guinea-Bissau	63.26
173	Burkina Faso	63.06
174	Zimbabwe	62.83
175	Cameroon	62.79
176	Mali	62.01
177	Benin	61.82
178	Cote d'Ivoire	61.80
179	Angola	61.71
180	Republic of the Congo	61.69
181	Democratic Republic of the Congo	61.43
182	Nigeria	60.87
183	Sierra Leone	60.19
184	Niger	59.70
185	Eswatini	59.13
186	Lesotho	58.90
187	Chad	58.73
188	South Sudan	58.60
189	Mozambique	56.49
190	Somalia	55.32
191	Central African Republic	55.07
192	Afghanistan	53.25
193	North Macedonia	Data not available
194	Palestine	Data not available
195	Vatican City	Data not available