Countries With The Highest And Lowest Life Expectancy Rates

The global life expectancy at birth recovered the two-year decline in 2022, but is yet to hit the record high of 2019. The World Bank has released the most recent figures that indicates average life expectancy at birth to be 72 years in 2022, almost the same mark in 2020, while ticking up from 71.3 in 2021. Whereas the year before COVID-19 pandemic, the world life expectancy at birth was at 73 years.

In 2022, it was Europe that had the highest life expectancy among the regions listed in the World Bank Data. The age was recorded at 81.7 years in 20 European Union counties. Whereas, regions like western and central Africa recorded 57.6 years as the average, the lowest average life expectancy of all.

The highest countries to record the expectancy rate was however in Asia and Europe, with Liechtenstein and Japan topping the list at 84 years.

What is average life expectancy?

It is the average number of years a person can expect to live, based on the current mortality rates for a specific population in a specific area. Life expectancy at birth is the average lifespan calculated of a newborn, which also assumes that the mortality rates remain constant.

It is calculated for different age groups, and is one of the most common health status indicators. There are factors like lifestyle, better education, greater access to quality health services and rising live standards that influence the life expectancy age.

Countries With The Highest Life Expectancy

• Liechtenstein at 84.3 years
• Japan at 84.0 years
• Switzerland at 83.5 years
• Australia at 83.2 years
• Sweden at 83.1 years
• Spain at 83.1 years
• Ireland at 83.1 years
• Luxembourg at 83.0 years
• Italy at 82.9 years
• Singapore at 82.9 years

African nations of Chad and Lesotho had the lowest average life expectancy measurements among all countries at approximately 53 years.

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Countries With The Lowest Life Expectancy

• Chad at 53.0 years
• Lesotho at 53.0 years
• Nigeria at 53.6 years
• Central African Republic at 55.6 years
• South Sudan at 56.1 years
• Eswatini at 56.4 years
• Namibia at 58.1 years
• Côte d'Ivoire at 58.9 years
• Guinea at 59.0 years

Where Does the US Stand In The Ranking?

US life expectancy was at 77.4 in 2022, as per the World Bank Data, which ranked it at No. 49 in the world, even behind countries like Cuba, Estonia, and Saudi Arabia.

Among the 38 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the US ranked 30th for life expectancy. The rates sharply declined because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and fell by 1.6 years worldwide between 2019 and 2021. This is as per The Lancet study, published on May 18, 2024. The study provides as estimate of demographic metrics which are crucial to assess levels and trends of population health outcomes. It also emphasizes on changes in mortality and life expectancy that occurred during the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic period.

Another analysis by KFF and the Peterson Center on Healthcare found that the pandemic had a greater impact on life expectancy in the US than in other high-income nations. Whereas another March analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that US life expectancy had rebounded after two years of decline and it rose from 76.4 years in 2021 to 77.5 years in 2022.