Highest and lowest life expectancy by country

The countries with the longest and shortest lives are about 30 years apart. A baby born in Hong Kong can expect to live about 85 years on average, while for a baby born in Chad the figure is about 53. This article looks at the ten countries with the longest and the shortest life expectancy among the 70 on the site, and explains what accounts for the gap. The figures are approximate values taken from UN World Population Prospects 2024 and World Bank data.

The 10 countries with the highest life expectancy

East Asian and Western European countries lead the list. Japan and South Korea are at about 84, with Switzerland right behind at about 84 as well. Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Australia and France cluster around 83. Hong Kong is a special administrative region and not a country, but its data is calculated in the same way as the countries', so we included it.

The 10 countries with the lowest life expectancy

Sub-Saharan African countries stand out at the bottom. Chad at about 53, Nigeria at about 54 and Somalia at about 56 have the three shortest averages. Angola and South Africa are also at about 62, the same value as Niger, and of these three it is Niger, with the highest under-5 mortality, that appears in the table.

The gap opens up mostly in childhood

Most of the difference in life expectancy comes from the first five years. In the top ten countries of the table, under-5 mortality ranges from about 2 to 4 per thousand. In the bottom countries it ranges from about 66 to 115 per thousand. In other words, around 10 per cent of babies born in Chad or Niger do not live to see their fifth birthday. When average life expectancy is calculated, these early deaths pull the figure down sharply. A Chadian who has passed the age of five can expect to live well beyond the 53 years quoted at birth.

Most of these deaths come from preventable causes. Malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and complications at birth can largely be prevented with vaccines, clean water, antibiotics and a trained birth attendant. Rich countries got these tools decades ago, which is why, historically, most jumps in life expectancy came from falling child deaths.

Health care, water and nutrition

In the countries at the top, a health system everyone can reach, regular check-ups, cancer screening and the treatment of heart disease also lengthen lives in adulthood. In Japan the diet and low obesity are among the factors credited with raising the average, and in Spain and Italy the Mediterranean diet. In the countries at the bottom, even a woman giving birth may live hours from the nearest health centre. Clean drinking water and proper sanitation are among the cheapest ways to cut deaths from diarrhoea, and these services are still not widespread in the countries at the bottom of the list.

Income matters but is not enough on its own

The tables show a strong link between income and life expectancy. In all of the top ten countries income per person is about 50 thousand dollars or more, and in the bottom ten it is between about 1.4 and 6.5 thousand dollars. Still, the link is not perfect. In Bangladesh income per person is about 9 thousand dollars, yet life expectancy is about 74. In South Africa income is about 15 thousand dollars, but expected lifespan is about 62. Diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis are given as the main reasons. The United States is near the top of the list for income per person at about 80 thousand dollars, but its life expectancy of about 78 keeps it out of the top ten.

How much income shows up in health also depends on where the money is spent and how many people it reaches.

War, conflict and fragile states

Many of the countries at the bottom also have conflict, political instability or a fragile state. Somalia, Mali, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of the Congo belong to this group. Health centres close, vaccination campaigns are left half finished, people are displaced and food security breaks down. In these conditions child deaths can rise quickly, so life expectancy can slide back within a few years.

Is the gap closing?

In the 1950s life expectancy worldwide was around 46 years. Today it is around 73. The fastest progress has been in low-income countries. Countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Ethiopia raised their life expectancy by more than twenty years in a few decades. In some countries, though, the trend was interrupted: in South Africa during the HIV epidemic, and in Russia during the economic collapse of the 1990s, the average fell. The gap is generally closing, but not along a straight line, and it depends on each country's health investment and the crises it goes through.

What this number means for you

Life expectancy is an average drawn from the death rates of a given year. A baby born today will often live longer than the written figure, because medicine keeps advancing. But the country you are born in decides much of the risk in the early years and the opportunities that follow. If you want to roll the dice and see your own birth country, you can go to the game.