From the mid-19th century until today, life expectancy at birth in the United States has roughly doubled, from **** years in 1850 to **** years in 2025. It is estimated that life expectancy in the U.S. began its upward trajectory in the 1880s, largely driven by the decline in infant and child mortality through factors such as vaccination programs, antibiotics, and other healthcare advancements. Improved food security and access to clean water, as well as general increases in living standards (such as better housing, education, and increased safety) also contributed to a rise in life expectancy across all age brackets. There were notable dips in life expectancy; with an ***** year drop during the American Civil War in the 1860s, a ***** year drop during the Spanish Flu empidemic in 1918, and a *** year drop during the Covid-19 pandemic. There were also notable plateaus (and minor decreases) not due to major historical events, such as that of the *****, which has been attributed to a combination of factors such as unhealthy lifestyles, poor access to healthcare, poverty, and increased suicide rates, among others. However, despite the rate of progress slowing since the *****, most decades do see a general increase in the long term, and current UN projections predict that life expectancy at birth in the U.S. will increase by another nine years before the end of the century.

A global phenomenon, known as the demographic transition, has seen life expectancy from birth increase rapidly over the past two centuries. In pre-industrial societies, the average life expectancy was around 24 years, and it is believed that this was the case throughout most of history, and in all regions. The demographic transition then began in the industrial societies of Europe, North America, and the West Pacific around the turn of the 19th century, and life expectancy rose accordingly. Latin America was the next region to follow, before Africa and most Asian populations saw their life expectancy rise throughout the 20th century.

Throughout most of history, average life expectancy from birth was fairly consistent across the globe, at around 24 years. A major contributor to this was high rates of infant and child mortality; those who survived into adulthood could expect to live to their 50s or 60s, yet pandemics, food instability, and conflict did cause regular spikes in mortality across the entire population. Gradually, from the 16th to 19th centuries, there was some growth in more developed societies, due to improvements in agriculture, infrastructure, and medical knowledge. However, the most significant change came with the introduction of vaccination and other medical advances in the 1800s, which saw a sharp decline in child mortality and the onset of the demographic transition. This phenomenon began in more developed countries in the 1800s, before spreading to Latin America, Asia, and (later) Africa in the 1900s. As the majority of the world's population lives in countries considered to be "less developed", this figure is much closer to the global average. However, today, there is a considerable difference in life expectancies across these countries, ranging from 84.7 years in Japan to 53 years in the Central African Republic.

this graph was created in OurDataWorld:

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But where, when, how, and why has this dramatic change occurred?

To understand it, we can look at data on life expectancy worldwide.

The large reduction in child mortality has played an important role in increasing life expectancy. But life expectancy has increased at all ages. Infants, children, adults, and the elderly are all less likely to die than in the past, and death is being delayed.

This remarkable shift results from advances in medicine, public health, and living standards. Along with it, many predictions of the ‘limit’ of life expectancy have been broken.

On this page, you will find global data and research on life expectancy and related measures of longevity: the probability of death at a given age, the sex gap in life expectancy, lifespan inequality within countries, and more.

In 2021, the global average life expectancy was just over 70 years. This is an astonishing fact – because just two hundred years ago, it was less than half.

This was the case for all world regions: in 1800, no region had a life expectancy higher than 40 years.

The average life expectancy has risen steadily and significantly across all regions.1

This extraordinary rise is the result of a wide range of advances in health – in nutrition, clean water, sanitation, neonatal healthcare, antibiotics, vaccines, and other technologies and public health efforts – and improvements in living standards, economic growth, and poverty reduction.

In this article, we cover this in more detail:

Global life expectancy at birth has risen significantly since the mid-1900s, from roughly 46 years in 1950 to 73.2 years in 2023. Post-COVID-19 projections There was a drop of 1.7 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, between 2019 and 2021, however, figures resumed upon their previous trajectory the following year due to the implementation of vaccination campaigns and the lower severity of later strains of the virus. By the end of the century it is believed that global life expectancy from birth will reach 82 years, although growth will slow in the coming decades as many of the more-populous Asian countries reach demographic maturity. However, there is still expected to be a wide gap between various regions at the end of the 2100s, with the Europe and North America expected to have life expectancies around 90 years, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to be in the low-70s. The Great Leap Forward While a decrease of one year during the COVID-19 pandemic may appear insignificant, this is the largest decline in life expectancy since the "Great Leap Forward" in China in 1958, which caused global life expectancy to fall by almost four years between by 1960. The "Great Leap Forward" was a series of modernizing reforms, which sought to rapidly transition China's agrarian economy into an industrial economy, but mismanagement led to tens of millions of deaths through famine and disease.

Life expectancy in the United Kingdom was below 39 years in the year 1765, and over the course of the next two and a half centuries, it is expected to have increased by more than double, to 81.1 by the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout the UK's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. These changes were the result of smallpox epidemics in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, new sanitary and medical advancements throughout time (such as compulsory vaccination), and the First world War and Spanish Flu epidemic in the 1910s.

Life expectancy in India was 25.4 in the year 1800, and over the course of the next 220 years, it has increased to almost 70. Between 1800 and 1920, life expectancy in India remained in the mid to low twenties, with the largest declines coming in the 1870s and 1910s; this was because of the Great Famine of 1876-1878, and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919, both of which were responsible for the deaths of up to six and seventeen million Indians respectively; as well as the presence of other endemic diseases in the region, such as smallpox. From 1920 onwards, India's life expectancy has consistently increased, but it is still below the global average.

Across the world, people are living longer. In 1900, the average life expectancy of a newborn was 32 years. By 2021 this had more than doubled to 71 years. But where, when, how, and why has this dramatic change occurred? To understand it, we can look at data on life expectancy worldwide. The large reduction in child mortality has played an important role in increasing life expectancy. But life expectancy has increased at all ages. Infants, children, adults, and the elderly are all less likely to die than in the past, and death is being delayed. This remarkable shift results from advances in medicine, public health, and living standards. Along with it, many predictions of the ‘limit’ of life expectancy have been broken.

Data Dictionary

life_expectancy.csv

life_expectancy_different_ages.csv

life_expectancy_female_male.csv

citation(tidytuesday)

Life expectancy in Canada was just below forty in the year 1800, and over the course of the next 220 years, it is expected to have increased by more than double to 82.2 by the year 2020. Throughout this time, life expectancy in Canada progressed at a steady rate, with the most noticeable changes coming during the interwar period, where the rate of increase was affected by the Spanish Flu epidemic and both World Wars.

Life expectancy in Sweden was 36 in the year 1765, and over the course of the next 255 years, it is expected to have increased to 82.6 by 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Sweden's history, there was a lot of fluctuation around the turn of the nineteenth century due to The Napoleonic Wars and First Cholera Epidemic, and again in the 1910s due to the Spanish Flu Epidemic.

This table presents a wide variety of historical data in the field of health, lifestyle and health care. Figures on births and mortality, causes of death and the occurrence of certain infectious diseases are available from 1900, other series from later dates. In addition to self-perceived health, the table contains figures on infectious diseases, hospitalisations per diagnosis, life expectancy, lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity, and causes of death. The table also gives information on several aspects of health care, such as the number of practising professionals, the number of available hospital beds, nursing day averages and the expenditures on care. Many subjects are also covered in more detail by data in other tables, although sometimes with a shorter history. Data on notifiable infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS are not included in other tables.

Data available from: 1900

Status of the figures:

2025: The available figures are definite.

2024: Most available figures are definite. Figures are provisional for: - notifiable infectious diseases, hiv, aids; - expenditures on health and welfare; - causes of death.

2023: Most available figures are definite. Figures are provisional for: - notifiable infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS; - diagnoses at hospital admissions; - number of hospital discharges and length of stay; - number of hospital beds; - health professions; Figures are revised provisional for: - expenditures on health and welfare.

2022: Most available figures are definite. Figures are provisional for: - notifiable infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS; Figures are revised provisional for: - expenditures on health and welfare.

2021: Most available figures are definite. Figures are provisional for: - notifiable infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS;

2020 and earlier: Most available figures are definite. Due to 'dynamic' registrations, figures for notifiable infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS remain provisional.

Changes as of 18 December 2025: The most recent available figures have been added for: - live born children, deaths; - notifiable infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS; - expenditures on health and welfare; - healthy life expectancy; - perinatal and infant mortality; - average age of the mother at 1st birth; - multiple births.

Changes as of 18 december 2024: - Due to a revision of the statistics Health and welfare expenditure 2021, figures for expenditure on health and welfare have been replaced from 2021 onwards. - Revised figures on the volume index of healthcare costs are not yet available, these figures have been deleted from 2021 onwards.

When will new figures be published? June 2026.

In 2023 life expectancy for both males and females at birth rose when compared to 2022. Male life expectancy increased from 78.58 years to 78.82 years, and from 82.57 years to 82.77 years for females. Throughout most of this period, there is a steady rise in life expectancy for both males and females, with improvements in life expectancy beginning to slow in the 2010s and then starting to decline in the 2020s. Life expectancy since the 18th Century Although there has been a recent dip in life expectancy in the UK, long-term improvements to life expectancy stretch back several centuries. In 1765, life expectancy was below 39 years, and only surpassed 40 years in the 1810s, 50 years by the 1910s, 60 years by the 1930s and 70 by the 1960s. While life expectancy has broadly improved since the 1700s, this trajectory was interrupted at various points due to wars and diseases. In the early 1920s, for example, life expectancy suffered a noticeable setback in the aftermath of the First World War and Spanish Flu Epidemic. Impact of COVID-19 While improvements to UK life expectancy stalled during the 2010s, it wasn't until the 2020s that it began to decline. The impact of COVID-19 was one of the primary factors in this respect, with 2020 seeing the most deaths in the UK since 1918. The first wave of the pandemic in Spring of that year was a particularly deadly time, with weekly death figures far higher than usual. A second wave that winter saw a peak of almost 5,700 excess deaths a week in late January 2021, with excess deaths remaining elevated for several years afterward.

The U.S. Small-area Life Expectancy Estimates Project (USALEEP) is a partnership of NCHS, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)External, and the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS)External to produce a new measure of health for where you live. The USALEEP project produced estimates of life expectancy at birth—the average number of years a person can expect to live—for most of the census tracts in the United States for the period 2010-2015. These estimates were published in September, 2018."A growing body of research is recognizing the importance of measuring mortality outcomes in small geographic areas, such as U.S. census tracts, to identify health disparities within a population. The indicator most widely identified as the ideal measure of a population’s mortality experience is life expectancy at birth. The concept of life expectancy is intuitive and easily understood by both policymakers and the lay public. Life expectancy is estimated for national populations by most developed countries, including the United States, which has produced the estimate annually since 1945 and decennially since 1900. However, its calculation is relatively complex compared with that of other summary mortality measures, because it entails the calculation of six distinct functions and requires a minimum number of age groups and total population size, below\ which the estimates become unstable and unreliable." - USALEEP Methodology Summary The methodology used to calculate the U.S. censustract abridged life tables consisted of several stages. First, through a collaboration between the National Vital Statistics System registration areas and the National Center for Health Statistics, death records of U.S. residents (excluding residents of Maine and Wisconsin) for deaths occurring in 2010 through 2015 were geocoded using decedents’ residential addresses to identify and code census tracts. Second, population estimates were produced based on the 2010 decennial census and the 2011–2015 American Community Survey 5-year survey. Third, a methodology that combined standard demographic techniques and statistical modeling was developed to address challenges posed by small population sizes and small and missing age-specific death counts. Last, standard, abridged life table methods were adjusted to account for error introduced by population estimates based on sample data. To review the full methodology, please use the following link: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_02/sr02_181.pdf

It is only in the past two centuries where demographics and the development of human populations has emerged as a subject in its own right, as industrialization and improvements in medicine gave way to exponential growth of the world's population. There are very few known demographic studies conducted before the 1800s, which means that modern scholars have had to use a variety of documents from centuries gone by, along with archeological and anthropological studies, to try and gain a better understanding of the world's demographic development. Genealogical records One such method is the study of genealogical records from the past; luckily, there are many genealogies relating to European families that date back as far as medieval times. Unfortunately, however, all of these studies relate to families in the upper and elite classes; this is not entirely representative of the overall population as these families had a much higher standard of living and were less susceptible to famine or malnutrition than the average person (although elites were more likely to die during times of war). Nonetheless, there is much to be learned from this data. Impact of the Black Death In the centuries between 1200 and 1745, English male aristocrats who made it to their 21st birthday were generally expected to live to an age between 62 and 72 years old. The only century where life expectancy among this group was much lower was in the 1300s, where the Black Death caused life expectancy among adult English noblemen to drop to just 45 years. Experts assume that the pre-plague population of England was somewhere between four and seven million people in the thirteenth century, and just two million in the fourteenth century, meaning that Britain lost at least half of its population due to the plague. Although the plague only peaked in England for approximately eighteen months, between 1348 and 1350, it devastated the entire population, and further outbreaks in the following decades caused life expectancy in the decade to drop further. The bubonic plague did return to England sporadically until the mid-seventeenth century, although life expectancy among English male aristocrats rose again in the centuries following the worst outbreak, and even peaked at more than 71 years in the first half of the sixteenth century.

Number of deaths and mortality rates, by age group, sex, and place of residence, 1991 to most recent year.

In 1880, the average person born in the area of modern-day South Korea could expect to live to just under the age of 26, a figure which would remain below thirty until the 1920s. Life expectancy would fall to its lowest level of just 24 years in 1920, however, as the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic would spread through the country, resulting in an estimated 200,000 deaths across the Korean peninsula. Life expectancy would begin to rise in the 1920s, however, as development programs by the Japanese colonial administration would see economic growth and access to healthcare improve greatly in the region. The 1940s and 1950s would see a slowing, then a reversal to this growth though, as the final years of the Second World War, and later the 1950 Korean War, would see significant destruction and fatalities in the country.

Following the end of the Korean War with the 1953 armistice, life expectancy would begin to climb again in the newly-established South Korea, as the country would begin to rapidly modernize and improve access to healthcare and nutrition, raising standards of living and cutting child mortality rates throughout the country. As a result, life expectancy would rise from just under 47 years in 1950, to over 75 years by the turn of the century. This rise in life expectancy has continued steadily into the 21st century, and as a result, in 2020, it is estimated that the average person born in South Korea will live to just under the age of 83 years, one of the highest life expectancies in the world.

In 1865, the average person born in Bangladesh could expect to live to just over the age of 25 years old. This figure would gradually decline throughout the remainder of the 19th century, falling to just over 20 years by 1900, as the Bengal region of British Raj would see several severe famines in this time period. However, life expectancy would begin to increase gradually in the early 1900s, outside of a small decline in the late 1910s from the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic. Beginning in the 1930s, life expectancy in Bangladesh would begin to grow rapidly, as wartime exports and industrialization would lead to significant improvements in standards of living in the region. This growth would continue steadily throughout the rest of the century, declining only with the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971. As access to and quality of healthcare in Bangladesh continuously improves, in 2020, the average person born in Bangladesh can expect to live to just over the age of 72 years old, which is higher than most other countries on the Indian subcontinent.

Life expectancy in Japan was 36.4 in the year 1860, and over the course of the next 160 years, it is expected to have increased to 84.4, which is the second highest in the world (after Monaco). Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Japan's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. These changes were a result of the Spanish Flu in the 1910s, the Second World War in the 1940s, and the sharp increase was due to the high rate of industrialization and economic prosperity in Japan, in the mid-twentieth century.

At the beginning of the 1840s, life expectancy from birth in Ireland was just over 38 years. However, this figure would see a dramatic decline with the beginning of the Great Famine in 1845, and dropped below 21 years in the second half of the decade (in 1849 alone, life expectancy fell to just 14 years). The famine came as a result of a Europe-wide potato blight, which had a disproportionally devastating impact on the Irish population due to the dependency on potatoes (particularly in the south and east), and the prevalence of a single variety of potato on the island that allowed the blight to spread faster than in other areas of Europe. Additionally, authorities forcefully redirected much of the country's surplus grain to the British mainland, which exacerbated the situation. Within five years, mass starvation would contribute to the deaths of over one million people on the island, while a further one million would emigrate; this also created a legacy of emigration from Ireland, which saw the population continue to fall until the mid-1900s, and the total population of the island is still well below its pre-famine level of 8.5 million people.

Following the end of the Great Famine, life expectancy would begin to gradually increase in Ireland, as post-famine reforms would see improvements in the living standards of the country’s peasantry, most notably the Land Wars, a largely successful series of strikes, boycotts and protests aimed at reform of the country's agricultural land distribution, which began in the 1870s and lasted into the 20th century. As these reforms were implemented, life expectancy in Ireland would rise to more than fifty years by the turn of the century. While this rise would slow somewhat in the 1910s, due to the large number of Irish soldiers who fought in the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic, as well as the period of civil unrest leading up to the island's partition in 1921, life expectancy in Ireland would rise greatly in the 20th century. In the second half of the 20th century, Ireland's healthcare system and living standards developed similarly to the rest of Western Europe, and today, it is often ranks among the top countries globally in terms of human development, GDP and quality of healthcare. With these developments, the increase in life expectancy from birth in Ireland was relatively constant in the first century of independence, and in 2020 is estimated to be 82 years.

Between 1900 and 1950, Egypt’s life expectancy saw little change, hovering around 33 years, with the only decrease coming in the 1910s during the Spanish Flu epidemic and the Second World War. However, following the removal of the monarchy and establishment of the Egyptian republic in the 1952 Revolution, life expectancy saw a several decade rise, largely due to a significant expansion of the economy, health services, and other forms of social welfare; this increase then slowed between 1960 and 1975 as the economic growth in the country slowed, but it then increased to 68 years at the turn of the millennium. Since 2000, this growth has slowed, as a mixture of high population growth, high unemployment, and significant civil unrest have hit the country in the last two decades, although it has still reached 72 years in 2020, which is just one year below the global life expectancy.