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Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
Health & Population
Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.
World Bank code: SP.DYN.LE00.IN
• Data available for 217 countries • Latest year: 2024
In ,
Monaco
led Life expectancy at birth, total (years) at 86.50.
The world median across 217 reporting countries was
74.71.
What this measures:
Life expectancy at birth estimates how many years a newborn would live given current age-specific mortality rates. It is a summary measure of a population's health and well-being. Higher life expectancy generally correlates with better healthcare access, nutrition, sanitation, and income levels.
How "Health & Population" indicators are measured
Health and population indicators come from national vital-registration systems, demographic and health surveys, and modeling by the UN Population Division and WHO. Mortality and morbidity estimates are often modeled rather than directly observed in lower-capacity statistical systems, which means some figures are interpolations between survey years. Life expectancy is a "period" measure based on current age-specific mortality, not a forecast of how long someone born today will actually live.
Distribution — 2024
Reporting
217 countries
Median
74.71
Mean
74.02
25th percentile
68.74
75th percentile
79.78
Range
54.64 – 86.50
World at a Glance — 2024
Every reporting country, grouped by region, shaded by value (quintile).
Lighter = lower value · Darker = higher value. Hover a cell to see the country and value.