As of 2023, the countries with the highest life expectancy included Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Japan. In Japan, a person could expect to live up to around ** years. In general, the life expectancy for females is higher than that of males, with lifestyle choices and genetics the two major determining factors of life expectancy. Life expectancy worldwide The overall life expectancy worldwide has increased since the development of modern medicine and technology. In 2011, the global life expectancy was **** years. By 2023, it had increased to **** years. However, the years 2020 and 2021 saw a decline in global life expectancy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, not every country has seen a substantial increase in life expectancy. In Nigeria, for example, the life expectancy is only ** years, almost ***years shorter than the global average. In addition to Nigeria, the countries with the shortest life expectancy include Chad, Lesotho, and the Central African Republic. Life expectancy in the U.S. In the United States, life expectancy at birth is currently ***** years. Life expectancy in the U.S. generally increases every year, however, over the past decade, life expectancy has seen some surprising decreases. The major contributing factors to this drop have been the ongoing opioid epidemic, which claimed around ****** lives in 2022 alone, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of 2023, the countries with the highest life expectancy included Switzerland, Japan, and Spain. As of that time, a new-born child in Switzerland could expect to live an average of 84.2 years. Around the world, females consistently have a higher average life expectancy than males, with females in Europe expected to live an average of six years longer than males on this continent. Increases in life expectancy The overall average life expectancy in OECD countries increased by 11.3 years from 1970 to 2019. The countries that saw the largest increases included Turkey, India, and South Korea. The life expectancy at birth in Turkey increased an astonishing 24.4 years over this period. The countries with the lowest life expectancy worldwide as of 2022 were Chad, Lesotho, and Nigeria, where a newborn could be expected to live an average of 53 years. Life expectancy in the U.S. The life expectancy in the United States was 77.43 years as of 2022. Shockingly, the life expectancy in the United States has decreased in recent years, while it continues to increase in other similarly developed countries. The COVID-19 pandemic and increasing rates of suicide and drug overdose deaths from the opioid epidemic have been cited as reasons for this decrease.

Historical chart and dataset showing U.S. life expectancy by year from 1950 to 2025.

The average for 2022 based on 24 countries was 77.36 years. The highest value was in Bermuda: 84.51 years and the lowest value was in Haiti: 66.7 years. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The average for 2022 based on 12 countries was 76.06 years. The highest value was in Chile: 81.88 years and the lowest value was in Bolivia: 67.91 years. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2024, the average life expectancy in the world was 71 years for men and 76 years for women. The lowest life expectancies were found in Africa, while Oceania and Europe had the highest. What is life expectancy?Life expectancy is defined as a statistical measure of how long a person may live, based on demographic factors such as gender, current age, and most importantly the year of their birth. The most commonly used measure of life expectancy is life expectancy at birth or at age zero. The calculation is based on the assumption that mortality rates at each age were to remain constant in the future. Life expectancy has changed drastically over time, especially during the past 200 years. In the early 20th century, the average life expectancy at birth in the developed world stood at 31 years. It has grown to an average of 70 and 75 years for males and females respectively, and is expected to keep on growing with advances in medical treatment and living standards continuing. Highest and lowest life expectancy worldwide Life expectancy still varies greatly between different regions and countries of the world. The biggest impact on life expectancy is the quality of public health, medical care, and diet. As of 2022, the countries with the highest life expectancy were Japan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Australia, all at 84–83 years. Most of the countries with the lowest life expectancy are mostly African countries. The ranking was led by the Chad, Nigeria, and Lesotho with 53–54 years.

BackgroundThe gap between the highest and lowest life expectancies for race-county combinations in the United States is over 35 y. We divided the race-county combinations of the US population into eight distinct groups, referred to as the “eight Americas,” to explore the causes of the disparities that can inform specific public health intervention policies and programs. Methods and FindingsThe eight Americas were defined based on race, location of the county of residence, population density, race-specific county-level per capita income, and cumulative homicide rate. Data sources for population and mortality figures were the Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics. We estimated life expectancy, the risk of mortality from specific diseases, health insurance, and health-care utilization for the eight Americas. The life expectancy gap between the 3.4 million high-risk urban black males and the 5.6 million Asian females was 20.7 y in 2001. Within the sexes, the life expectancy gap between the best-off and the worst-off groups was 15.4 y for males (Asians versus high-risk urban blacks) and 12.8 y for females (Asians versus low-income southern rural blacks). Mortality disparities among the eight Americas were largest for young (15–44 y) and middle-aged (45–59 y) adults, especially for men. The disparities were caused primarily by a number of chronic diseases and injuries with well-established risk factors. Between 1982 and 2001, the ordering of life expectancy among the eight Americas and the absolute difference between the advantaged and disadvantaged groups remained largely unchanged. Self-reported health plan coverage was lowest for western Native Americans and low-income southern rural blacks. Crude self-reported health-care utilization, however, was slightly higher for the more disadvantaged populations. ConclusionsDisparities in mortality across the eight Americas, each consisting of millions or tens of millions of Americans, are enormous by all international standards. The observed disparities in life expectancy cannot be explained by race, income, or basic health-care access and utilization alone. Because policies aimed at reducing fundamental socioeconomic inequalities are currently practically absent in the US, health disparities will have to be at least partly addressed through public health strategies that reduce risk factors for chronic diseases and injuries.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Life Expectancy (EQ6)

FULL MEASURE NAME Life Expectancy

LAST UPDATED April 2017

DESCRIPTION Life expectancy refers to the average number of years a newborn is expected to live if mortality patterns remain the same. The measure reflects the mortality rate across a population for a point in time.

DATA SOURCE State of California, Department of Health: Death Records (1990-2013) No link

California Department of Finance: Population Estimates Annual Intercensal Population Estimates (1990-2010) Table P-2: County Population by Age (2010-2013) http://www.dof.ca.gov/Forecasting/Demographics/Estimates/

U.S. Census Bureau: Decennial Census ZCTA Population (2000-2010) http://factfinder.census.gov

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 5-Year Population Estimates (2013) http://factfinder.census.gov

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@mtc.ca.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Life expectancy is commonly used as a measure of the health of a population. Life expectancy does not reflect how long any given individual is expected to live; rather, it is an artificial measure that captures an aspect of the mortality rates across a population that can be compared across time and populations. More information about the determinants of life expectancy that may lead to differences in life expectancy between neighborhoods can be found in the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) Health Inequities in the Bay Area report at http://www.barhii.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/barhii_hiba.pdf. Vital Signs measures life expectancy at birth (as opposed to cohort life expectancy). A statistical model was used to estimate life expectancy for Bay Area counties and ZIP Codes based on current life tables which require both age and mortality data. A life table is a table which shows, for each age, the survivorship of a people from a certain population.

Current life tables were created using death records and population estimates by age. The California Department of Public Health provided death records based on the California death certificate information. Records include age at death and residential ZIP Code. Single-year age population estimates at the regional- and county-level comes from the California Department of Finance population estimates and projections for ages 0-100+. Population estimates for ages 100 and over are aggregated to a single age interval. Using this data, death rates in a population within age groups for a given year are computed to form unabridged life tables (as opposed to abridged life tables). To calculate life expectancy, the probability of dying between the jth and (j+1)st birthday is assumed uniform after age 1. Special consideration is taken to account for infant mortality.

For the ZIP Code-level life expectancy calculation, it is assumed that postal ZIP Codes share the same boundaries as ZIP Code Census Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs). More information on the relationship between ZIP Codes and ZCTAs can be found at http://www.census.gov/geo/reference/zctas.html. ZIP Code-level data uses three years of mortality data to make robust estimates due to small sample size. Year 2013 ZIP Code life expectancy estimates reflects death records from 2011 through 2013. 2013 is the last year with available mortality data. Death records for ZIP Codes with zero population (like those associated with P.O. Boxes) were assigned to the nearest ZIP Code with population. ZIP Code population for 2000 estimates comes from the Decennial Census. ZIP Code population for 2013 estimates are from the American Community Survey (5-Year Average). ACS estimates are adjusted using Decennial Census data for more accurate population estimates. An adjustment factor was calculated using the ratio between the 2010 Decennial Census population estimates and the 2012 ACS 5-Year (with middle year 2010) population estimates. This adjustment factor is particularly important for ZCTAs with high homeless population (not living in group quarters) where the ACS may underestimate the ZCTA population and therefore underestimate the life expectancy. The ACS provides ZIP Code population by age in five-year age intervals. Single-year age population estimates were calculated by distributing population within an age interval to single-year ages using the county distribution. Counties were assigned to ZIP Codes based on majority land-area.

ZIP Codes in the Bay Area vary in population from over 10,000 residents to less than 20 residents. Traditional life expectancy estimation (like the one used for the regional- and county-level Vital Signs estimates) cannot be used because they are highly inaccurate for small populations and may result in over/underestimation of life expectancy. To avoid inaccurate estimates, ZIP Codes with populations of less than 5,000 were aggregated with neighboring ZIP Codes until the merged areas had a population of more than 5,000. ZIP Code 94103, representing Treasure Island, was dropped from the dataset due to its small population and having no bordering ZIP Codes. In this way, the original 305 Bay Area ZIP Codes were reduced to 217 ZIP Code areas for 2013 estimates. Next, a form of Bayesian random-effects analysis was used which established a prior distribution of the probability of death at each age using the regional distribution. This prior is used to shore up the life expectancy calculations where data were sparse.

United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for High Income Countries was 80.15000 Number of Years in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for High Income Countries reached a record high of 80.88737 in January of 2019 and a record low of 68.55283 in January of 1960. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for High Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

In 2024, the average life expectancy for those born in more developed countries was 76 years for men and 82 years for women. On the other hand, the respective numbers for men and women born in the least developed countries were 64 and 69 years. Improved health care has lead to higher life expectancy Life expectancy is the measure of how long a person is expected to live. Life expectancy varies worldwide and involves many factors such as diet, gender, and environment. As medical care has improved over the years, life expectancy has increased worldwide. Introduction to health care such as vaccines has significantly improved the lives of millions of people worldwide. The average worldwide life expectancy at birth has steadily increased since 2007, but dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Life expectancy worldwide More developed countries tend to have higher life expectancies, for a multitude of reasons. Health care infrastructure and quality of life tend to be higher in more developed countries, as is access to clean water and food. Africa was the continent that had the lowest life expectancy for both men and women in 2023, while Oceania had the highest for men and Europe and Oceania had the highest for women.

United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Low Income Countries was 65.00667 Number of Years in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Low Income Countries reached a record high of 65.00667 in January of 2023 and a record low of 33.88184 in January of 1950. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Low Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

The average for 2022 based on 20 countries was 76.72 years. The highest value was in Puerto Rico: 83.9 years and the lowest value was in Haiti: 66.7 years. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Upper Middle Income Countries was 76.19481 Number of Years in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Upper Middle Income Countries reached a record high of 76.19481 in January of 2023 and a record low of 46.32320 in January of 1950. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Upper Middle Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

This dataset contains replication files for "The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014" by Augustin Bergeron, Raj Chetty, David Cutler, Benjamin Scuderi, Michael Stepner, and Nicholas Turner. For more information, see https://opportunityinsights.org/paper/lifeexpectancy/. A summary of the related publication follows. How can we reduce socioeconomic disparities in health outcomes? Although it is well known that there are significant differences in health and longevity between income groups, debate remains about the magnitudes and determinants of these differences. We use new data from 1.4 billion anonymous earnings and mortality records to construct more precise estimates of the relationship between income and life expectancy at the national level than was feasible in prior work. We then construct new local area (county and metro area) estimates of life expectancy by income group and identify factors that are associated with higher levels of life expectancy for low-income individuals. Our findings show that disparities in life expectancy are not inevitable. There are cities throughout America — from New York to San Francisco to Birmingham, AL — where gaps in life expectancy are relatively small or are narrowing over time. Replicating these successes more broadly will require targeted local efforts, focusing on improving health behaviors among the poor in cities such as Las Vegas and Detroit. Our findings also imply that federal programs such as Social Security and Medicare are less redistributive than they might appear because low-income individuals obtain these benefits for significantly fewer years than high-income individuals, especially in cities like Detroit. Going forward, the challenge is to understand the mechanisms that lead to better health and longevity for low-income individuals in some parts of the U.S. To facilitate future research and monitor local progress, we have posted annual statistics on life expectancy by income group and geographic area (state, CZ, and county) at The Health Inequality Project website. Using these data, researchers will be able to study why certain places have high or improving levels of life expectancy and ultimately apply these lessons to reduce health disparities in other parts of the country.

United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Least Developed Countries was 66.51610 Number of Years in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Least Developed Countries reached a record high of 66.51610 in January of 2023 and a record low of 35.41296 in January of 1950. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Least Developed Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

Abstract

The Health Inequality Project uses big data to measure differences in life expectancy by income across areas and identify strategies to improve health outcomes for low-income Americans.

Section 7

This table reports life expectancy point estimates and standard errors for men and women at age 40 for each percentile of the national income distribution. Both race-adjusted and unadjusted estimates are reported.

Source

Section 13

This table reports life expectancy point estimates and standard errors for men and women at age 40 for each percentile of the national income distribution separately by year. Both race-adjusted and unadjusted estimates are reported.

Source

Section 6

This dataset was created on 2020-01-10 18:53:00.508 by merging multiple datasets together. The source datasets for this version were:

Commuting Zone Life Expectancy Estimates by year: CZ-level by-year life expectancy estimates for men and women, by income quartile

Commuting Zone Life Expectancy: Commuting zone (CZ)-level life expectancy estimates for men and women, by income quartile

Commuting Zone Life Expectancy Trends: CZ-level estimates of trends in life expectancy for men and women, by income quartile

Commuting Zone Characteristics: CZ-level characteristics

Commuting Zone Life Expectancy for larger populations: CZ-level life expectancy estimates for men and women, by income ventile

Section 15

This table reports life expectancy point estimates and standard errors for men and women at age 40 for each quartile of the national income distribution by state of residence and year. Both race-adjusted and unadjusted estimates are reported.

Source

Section 11

This table reports US mortality rates by gender, age, year and household income percentile. Household incomes are measured two years prior to the mortality rate for mortality rates at ages 40-63, and at age 61 for mortality rates at ages 64-76. The “lag” variable indicates the number of years between measurement of income and mortality.

Observations with 1 or 2 deaths have been masked: all mortality rates that reflect only 1 or 2 deaths have been recoded to reflect 3 deaths

Source

Section 3

This table reports coefficients and standard errors from regressions of life expectancy estimates for men and women at age 40 for each quartile of the national income distribution on calendar year by commuting zone of residence. Only the slope coefficient, representing the average increase or decrease in life expectancy per year, is reported. Trend estimates for both race-adjusted and unadjusted life expectancies are reported. Estimates are reported for the 100 largest CZs (populations greater than 590,000) only.

Source

Section 9

This table reports life expectancy estimates at age 40 for Males and Females for all countries. Source: World Health Organization, accessed at: http://apps.who.int/gho/athena/

Source

Section 10

This table reports life expectancy point estimates and standard errors for men and women at age 40 for each quartile of the national income distribution by county of residence. Both race-adjusted and unadjusted estimates are reported. Estimates are reported for counties with populations larger than 25,000 only

Source

Section 2

This table reports life expectancy point estimates and standard errors for men and women at age 40 for each quartile of the national income distribution by commuting zone of residence and year. Both race-adjusted and unadjusted estimates are reported. Estimates are reported for the 100 largest CZs (populations greater than 590,000) only.

Source

Section 8

This table reports US population and death counts by age, year, and sex from various sources. Counts labelled “dm1” are derived from the Social Security Administration Data Master 1 file. Counts labelled “irs” are derived from tax data. Counts labelled “cdc” are derived from NCHS life tables.

Source

Section 12

This table reports numerous county characteristics, compiled from various sources. These characteristics are described in the county life expectancy table.

Two variables constructed by the Cen

United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Lower Middle Income Countries was 69.59975 Number of Years in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Lower Middle Income Countries reached a record high of 69.59975 in January of 2023 and a record low of 39.23005 in January of 1950. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Lower Middle Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Low and Middle Income Countries was 71.89049 Number of Years in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Low and Middle Income Countries reached a record high of 71.89049 in January of 2023 and a record low of 42.46168 in January of 1950. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Low and Middle Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Middle Income Countries was 72.75025 Number of Years in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Middle Income Countries reached a record high of 72.75025 in January of 2023 and a record low of 43.10400 in January of 1950. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for Middle Income Countries - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on June of 2025.

This multi-scale map shows life expectancy - a widely-used measure of health and mortality. From the 2020 County Health Rankings page about Life Expectancy:

Breakdown by race/ethnicity in pop-up:

There are many factors that play into life expectancy: rates of noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and obesity, prevalence of tobacco use, prevalence of domestic violence, and many more.

Data from County Health Rankings 2020 (in this layer and referenced below), available for nation, state, and county, and available in ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World