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.

Introduction

Life Expectancy Statistics: Life expectancy is the average number of years a person is expected to live based on current mortality rates in a specific population.

It is influenced by healthcare quality, lifestyle choices, economic conditions, genetics, environmental factors, and social determinants like education and public health policies.

Typically measured as life expectancy at birth, it reflects the average lifespan of a newborn. However, it can also be assessed for older ages, such as 65, to predict additional years of life.

This statistic shows the average life expectancy in North America for those born in 2022, by gender and region. In Canada, the average life expectancy was 80 years for males and 84 years for females.

Life expectancy in North America

Of those considered in this statistic, the life expectancy of female Canadian infants born in 2021 was the longest, at 84 years. Female infants born in America that year had a similarly high life expectancy of 81 years. Male infants, meanwhile, had lower life expectancies of 80 years (Canada) and 76 years (USA).

Compare this to the worldwide life expectancy for babies born in 2021: 75 years for women and 71 years for men. Of continents worldwide, North America ranks equal first in terms of life expectancy of (77 years for men and 81 years for women). Life expectancy is lowest in Africa at just 63 years and 66 years for males and females respectively. Japan is the country with the highest life expectancy worldwide for babies born in 2020.

Life expectancy is calculated according to current mortality rates of the population in question. Global variations in life expectancy are caused by differences in medical care, public health and diet, and reflect global inequalities in economic circumstances. Africa’s low life expectancy, for example, can be attributed in part to the AIDS epidemic. In 2019, around 72,000 people died of AIDS in South Africa, the largest amount worldwide. Nigeria, Tanzania and India were also high on the list of countries ranked by AIDS deaths that year. Likewise, Africa has by far the highest rate of mortality by communicable disease (i.e. AIDS, neglected tropics diseases, malaria and tuberculosis).

Life Expectancy of the World Population

The dataset from Worldometer provides a ranked list of countries based on life expectancy at birth, which represents the average number of years a newborn is expected to live under current mortality rates. It includes global, regional, and country-specific life expectancy figures, with separate data for males and females. The dataset highlights disparities in longevity across nations, with countries like Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea having the highest life expectancies. This data serves as a key indicator of public health, quality of life, and healthcare effectiveness, offering valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and global health organizations.

Data Analysis & Machine Learning Approaches for Life Expectancy Data

Data Analysis Approaches Life expectancy data can be analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, variance, distribution) and correlation analysis to identify relationships with factors like GDP, healthcare, and education. Time series analysis helps track longevity trends over time, while clustering techniques (e.g., K-Means) group countries with similar patterns. Additionally, geospatial analysis can visualize regional disparities in life expectancy.

Machine Learning Models For prediction, linear and multiple regression models estimate life expectancy based on socioeconomic indicators, while polynomial regression captures non-linear trends. Decision trees and Random Forests classify countries into high- and low-life expectancy groups. Deep learning techniques like neural networks (ANNs) can model complex relationships, while LSTMs are useful for time-series forecasting.

For pattern detection, K-Means clustering groups countries based on life expectancy trends, and DBSCAN identifies anomalies. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) helps in feature selection, improving model efficiency. These methods provide insights into longevity trends, helping policymakers and researchers improve public health strategies.

Life expectancy at birth. Data based on the latest United Nations Population Division estimates.

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/#countries-ranked-by-life-expectancy

This table contains 2394 series, with data for years 1991 - 1991 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (1 items: Canada ...), Population group (19 items: Entire cohort; Income adequacy quintile 1 (lowest);Income adequacy quintile 2;Income adequacy quintile 3 ...), Age (14 items: At 25 years; At 30 years; At 40 years; At 35 years ...), Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...), Characteristics (3 items: Life expectancy; High 95% confidence interval; life expectancy; Low 95% confidence interval; life expectancy ...).

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.

Note: This dataset is historical only and there are not corresponding datasets for more recent time periods. For that more-recent information, please visit the Chicago Health Atlas at https://chicagohealthatlas.org. This dataset gives the average life expectancy and corresponding confidence intervals for each Chicago community area for the years 1990, 2000 and 2010. See the full description at: https://data.cityofchicago.org/api/views/qjr3-bm53/files/AAu4x8SCRz_bnQb8SVUyAXdd913TMObSYj6V40cR6p8?download=true&filename=P:\EPI\OEPHI\MATERIALS\REFERENCES\Life Expectancy\Dataset description - LE by community area.pdf

File Description: "Life Expectancy Data.csv" This dataset contains 2,938 entries and 22 columns, covering life expectancy and related health indicators for multiple nations from 2000 to 2015. It includes country-wise data and other economic, social, and health metrics. Column Description: 1. Country – Name of the country. 2. Year – Data year (ranging from 2000 to 2015). 3. Status – Economic classification (Developing/Developed). 4. Life expectancy – Average lifespan in years. 5. Adult Mortality – Probability of death between ages 15-60 per 1,000 individuals. 6. Infant Deaths – Number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births. 7. Alcohol – Per capita alcohol consumption. 8. Percentage Expenditure – Government health expenditure as a percentage of GDP. 9. Hepatitis B – Immunization coverage percentage. 10. Measles – Number of reported measles cases. 11. BMI – Average Body Mass Index. 12. Under-Five Deaths – Mortality rate for children under five. 13. Polio & Diphtheria – Immunization rates. 14. HIV/AIDS – Deaths due to HIV/AIDS per 1,000 individuals. 15. GDP – Gross Domestic Product per capita. 16. Population – Total population of the country. 17. Thinness (1-19 years, 5-9 years) – Percentage of underweight children. 18. Income Composition of Resources– Human development index proxy. 19. Schooling– Average number of years of schooling. Missing Data: Some columns (like Hepatitis B, GDP, Population, Total Expenditure) contain missing values. Further File Information: Total Countries: 193 Years Covered: 2000–2015 Total Entries: 2,938 Missing Data Overview: Some columns have missing values, notably: Hepatitis B (553 missing) GDP (448 missing) Population (652 missing) Total expenditure (226 missing) Income Composition of Resources (167 missing) Schooling (163 missing) Summary Statistics: Life Expectancy:

Range: 36.3 to 89 years Mean: 69.2 years Adult Mortality:

Mean: 165 per 1,000 Max: 723 per 1,000 GDP per Capita:

Mean: $7,483 Max: $119,172 Population:

Mean: ~12.75 million Max: 1.29 billion Education:

Schooling Average: 12 years Max: 20.7 years

Futuristic Scope of this data: For comparative analysis of the 2000–2015 life expectancy dataset with new datasets on the same parametres , you can perform several statistical tests and analytical methods based on different research questions. Below are some key tests and approaches:

1. Trend Analysis (Time-Series) Objective: Identify trends in life expectancy and related indicators over time. Methods: Moving Averages: Smooth fluctuations to detect trends. Linear/Polynomial Regression: Check whether life expectancy follows an increasing or decreasing trend. Time-Series Decomposition: Separate data into trend, seasonality, and residuals.
2. Descriptive Statistics & Comparative Summary Objective: Compare summary statistics between years or groups. Tests/Methods: Mean, Median, Standard Deviation: Compare distributions of life expectancy, GDP, or schooling. Boxplots & Histograms: Show variations over different years or between developing vs. developed countries. Coefficient of Variation (CV): Compare variability in life expectancy across regions.
3. Correlation & Regression Analysis Objective: Examine relationships between variables. Methods: Pearson/Spearman Correlation: Check relationships between life expectancy and GDP, health expenditure, etc. Multiple Linear Regression: Predict life expectancy based on GDP, immunization, and schooling. Multicollinearity (VIF Test): Ensure independent variables are not highly correlated.
4. Hypothesis Testing (Comparative Analysis) Test Objective When to Use? t-Test (Independent Samples) Compare life expectancy between developed & developing nations Two groups (e.g., 2000 vs. 2015, or developed vs. developing) Paired t-Test Compare life expectancy in the same country over two time periods Before/after comparison (e.g., 2000 vs. 2015 for the same country) ANOVA (One-Way) Compare life expectancy across multiple groups More than two groups (e.g., continents or income groups) Chi-Square Test Test if categorical distributions (e.g., immunization coverage) differ over time Categorical variables (e.g., immunization rates vs. year)
5. Clustering & Classification (Machine Learning) Objective: Group countries based on life expectancy patterns. Methods: K-Means Clustering: Identify groups with similar life expectancy trends. Hierarchical Clustering: Create a country similarity tree. Decision Trees/Random Forest: Classify countries based on development status using life expectancy factors.
6. Forecasting Future Trends Objective: Predict life expectancy in future years using historical data. Methods: ARIMA (AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average): Time-series forecasting. Exponential Smoothing: Forecast gradual trends. Machine Learning (LSTM, XGBoost): Predict based on multiple indicators.
7. Comparative Regional Analysis O...

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 **** years. Around the world, females consistently have a higher average life expectancy than males, with females in Europe expected to live an average of *** years longer than males on this continent. Increases in life expectancy The overall average life expectancy in OECD countries increased by **** 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 2023 were Chad, Lesotho, and Nigeria, where a newborn could be expected to live an average of ** years. Life expectancy in the U.S. The life expectancy in the United States was **** years as of 2023. 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.

This dataset of U.S. mortality trends since 1900 highlights the differences in age-adjusted death rates and life expectancy at birth by race and sex.

Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2017 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years between 2000 and 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Data on age-adjusted death rates prior to 1999 are taken from historical data (see References below).

Life expectancy data are available up to 2017. Due to changes in categories of race used in publications, data are not available for the black population consistently before 1968, and not at all before 1960. More information on historical data on age-adjusted death rates is available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/hist293.htm.

SOURCES

CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, historical data, 1900-1998 (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm); CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov).

REFERENCES

1. National Center for Health Statistics, Data Warehouse. Comparability of cause-of-death between ICD revisions. 2008. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/comparability_icd.htm.

2. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm.

3. Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf.

4. Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf.

5. National Center for Health Statistics. Historical Data, 1900-1998. 2009. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm.

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.

Pivot table for healthy life expectancy by age, sex and geographical area, divided by three-year intervals starting from 2011 to 2013.

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.

🌍 Global Life Expectancy Dataset (2024)

This dataset contains life expectancy statistics for over 200 countries and territories worldwide, including:

• Overall life expectancy
• Male life expectancy
• Female life expectancy
• Gender gap between male and female life expectancy
• Continent of each country
• Year of data
• Source of data

It is ideal for:

• Health research and epidemiology
• Global demographic analysis
• Gender and life expectancy studies
• Data visualization and analytics
• Educational purposes and Kaggle competitions

🌍 About This Dataset

This dataset contains country-wise life expectancy data 📊 collected to analyze how health, economic, and social factors influence human longevity 🧬. It provides insights into global health trends and disparities across different nations and time periods.

The dataset is widely used for regression analysis, statistical modeling, and machine learning projects 🤖, especially in the domain of public health and socio-economic studies.

🔍 Key Highlights

• 🌐 Coverage: Worldwide (multiple countries)
• 📅 Time Span: Multiple years
• 🧮 Features: Health, economic & demographic indicators
• ❤️ Target Variable: Life Expectancy
• 📈 Suitable for: EDA, ML & predictive analytics

🧾 What the Dataset Includes

• ❤️ Life Expectancy – Average lifespan of the population
• 💉 Health indicators – Immunization, mortality rates, disease prevalence
• 💰 Economic factors – GDP, income composition
• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Demographics – Population-related attributes
• 🌱 Development indicators – Education and health expenditure

🎯 Use Cases

• 🔮 Life expectancy prediction
• 📊 Global health trend analysis
• 🤖 Machine learning regression tasks
• 🧠 Academic & research projects
• 🏆 Kaggle practice datasets

📝 Final Note

This dataset is ideal for building end-to-end data science pipelines, from exploratory analysis to predictive modeling, while gaining insights into real-world global health challenges 🌎.

Credits

This dataset was from tekkum and the original file was in xlsx format.

Context

While numerous studies have explored the factors influencing life expectancy, most have focused on demographic variables, economic indicators, and mortality rates. However, there has been limited examination of the impact of immunization coverage, health expenditures, and educational attainment on life expectancy. This study seeks to address these gaps by developing a comprehensive dataset with no missing values analyses, utilizing data from many years across 193 different countries. Key immunizations such as Hepatitis B, Polio, and Diphtheria, along with factors like GDP, schooling, and health expenditure, are included in this dataset. This approach aims to identify the most significant predictors of life expectancy, allowing countries to prioritize interventions that could most effectively improve the health and longevity of their populations.

Dataset

The success of this analysis relies heavily on the accuracy and completeness of the data. The dataset used in this project has been sourced from the Global Health Observatory (GHO) data repository of the World Health Organization (WHO), which tracks health metrics and related factors for countries worldwide. The corresponding economic data was obtained from the United Nations. From the broad range of health-related variables available, this study focuses on those that are most representative and critical to understanding life expectancy. The dataset includes data for 193 countries and has been meticulously merged into a single file containing 22 columns and 2,938 rows, representing 20 predictive variables. The variables were categorized into four main groups: Immunization-related factors, Mortality factors, Economic factors, and Social factors. Countries with a lot of missing values were excluded, and some values were generated by Bayesian Ridge.

Question

This dataset aims to answer the following key questions:

1. Do the selected predictive factors significantly impact life expectancy, and which variables are the most influential?

2. Should countries with a lower life expectancy (below 65 years) increase healthcare expenditure to improve their population's lifespan?

3. How do infant and adult mortality rates influence life expectancy across different regions?

4. What is the relationship between life expectancy and lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption?

5. How does educational attainment, as measured by years of schooling, affect human lifespan?

6. Is there a positive or negative correlation between alcohol consumption and life expectancy?

7. What is the impact of immunization coverage on life expectancy, particularly regarding diseases like Hepatitis B, Polio, and Diphtheria?

Context

Although there have been lot of studies undertaken in the past on factors affecting life expectancy considering demographic variables, income composition and mortality rates. It was found that affect of immunization and human development index was not taken into account in the past. Also, some of the past research was done considering multiple linear regression based on data set of one year for all the countries. Hence, this gives motivation to resolve both the factors stated previously by formulating a regression model based on mixed effects model and multiple linear regression while considering data from a period of 2000 to 2015 for all the countries. Important immunization like Hepatitis B, Polio and Diphtheria will also be considered. In a nutshell, this study will focus on immunization factors, mortality factors, economic factors, social factors and other health related factors as well. Since the observations this dataset are based on different countries, it will be easier for a country to determine the predicting factor which is contributing to lower value of life expectancy. This will help in suggesting a country which area should be given importance in order to efficiently improve the life expectancy of its population.

Content

The project relies on accuracy of data. The Global Health Observatory (GHO) data repository under World Health Organization (WHO) keeps track of the health status as well as many other related factors for all countries The data-sets are made available to public for the purpose of health data analysis. The data-set related to life expectancy, health factors for 193 countries has been collected from the same WHO data repository website and its corresponding economic data was collected from United Nation website. Among all categories of health-related factors only those critical factors were chosen which are more representative. It has been observed that in the past 15 years , there has been a huge development in health sector resulting in improvement of human mortality rates especially in the developing nations in comparison to the past 30 years. Therefore, in this project we have considered data from year 2000-2015 for 193 countries for further analysis. The individual data files have been merged together into a single data-set. On initial visual inspection of the data showed some missing values. As the data-sets were from WHO, we found no evident errors. Missing data was handled in R software by using Missmap command. The result indicated that most of the missing data was for population, Hepatitis B and GDP. The missing data were from less known countries like Vanuatu, Tonga, Togo, Cabo Verde etc. Finding all data for these countries was difficult and hence, it was decided that we exclude these countries from the final model data-set. The final merged file(final dataset) consists of 22 Columns and 2938 rows which meant 20 predicting variables. All predicting variables was then divided into several broad categories:​Immunization related factors, Mortality factors, Economical factors and Social factors.

Acknowledgements

The data was collected from WHO and United Nations website with the help of Deeksha Russell and Duan Wang.

Inspiration

The data-set aims to answer the following key questions: 1. Does various predicting factors which has been chosen initially really affect the Life expectancy? What are the predicting variables actually affecting the life expectancy? 2. Should a country having a lower life expectancy value(<65) increase its healthcare expenditure in order to improve its average lifespan? 3. How does Infant and Adult mortality rates affect life expectancy? 4. Does Life Expectancy has positive or negative correlation with eating habits, lifestyle, exercise, smoking, drinking alcohol etc. 5. What is the impact of schooling on the lifespan of humans? 6. Does Life Expectancy have positive or negative relationship with drinking alcohol? 7. Do densely populated countries tend to have lower life expectancy? 8. What is the impact of Immunization coverage on life Expectancy?

In 2021, women had an average life expectancy of ** years at birth, while men were expected to live 68.9 years. The average life expectancy worldwide dropped from 2019 to 2021, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This statistic depicts the average life expectancy at birth worldwide in 1990, 2019, and 2021, by gender.

This table contains mortality indicators by sex for Canada and all provinces except Prince Edward Island. These indicators are derived from three-year complete life tables. Mortality indicators derived from single-year life tables are also available (table 13-10-0837). For Prince Edward Island, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, mortality indicators derived from three-year abridged life tables are available (table 13-10-0140).

Note: This dataset is historical only and there are not corresponding datasets for more recent time periods. For that more-recent information, please visit the Chicago Health Atlas at https://chicagohealthatlas.org. This dataset gives the average life expectancy and corresponding confidence intervals for sex and racial-ethnic groups in Chicago for the years 1990, 2000 and 2010. See the full description at: https://data.cityofchicago.org/api/views/3qdj-cqb8/files/pJ3PVVyubnsS2SpGO5P5IOPtNgCJZTE3LNOeLagC3mw?download=true&filename=P:\EPI\OEPHI\MATERIALS\REFERENCES\Life Expectancy\Dataset description_LE_ Sex_Race_Ethnicity.pdf