How Long Do People Live
In Each Country?

If you were born in Japan, you can expect to live to around 84 years. If you were born in the Central African Republic, that figure drops to around 53 years. The 31-year difference between these two extremes is not random — it reflects decades of differences in healthcare access, nutrition, conflict, economic development, and public health investment.

The Global Picture

According to WHO Global Health Observatory data, global average life expectancy at birth was approximately 73.3 years as of the most recent reporting period. This represents a remarkable improvement from 66.8 years in 2000 — a gain of more than 6 years in two decades, driven primarily by reductions in child mortality and infectious disease.

Countries with the Highest Life Expectancy

The countries with the longest life expectancy cluster in East Asia and Western Europe, with strong healthcare systems, low pollution levels, healthy diets, and high social cohesion as common factors.

• Japan: ~84 years — the world's longest-lived population, attributed to diet (fish, vegetables, low processed food), walking culture, and universal healthcare
• Switzerland: ~84 years — exceptional healthcare system, high income, clean environment
• Singapore: ~83 years — highly developed healthcare, strict public health policies
• Australia: ~83 years — good healthcare access, outdoor lifestyle, low smoking rates
• Spain: ~83 years — Mediterranean diet, strong social connections, universal healthcare
• Iceland: ~83 years — clean environment, strong social safety net, high trust society
• South Korea: ~83 years — rapid healthcare improvement over past three decades

Countries with the Lowest Life Expectancy

The countries with the shortest life expectancy are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, where combinations of infectious disease (particularly HIV/AIDS and malaria), conflict, poverty, and limited healthcare infrastructure reduce life expectancy dramatically.

• Central African Republic: ~53 years
• Chad: ~54 years
• Nigeria: ~55 years
• Sierra Leone: ~55 years
• Lesotho: ~55 years — among the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world

The Gender Gap

In virtually every country on Earth, women outlive men. Globally, women live an average of 5 years longer than men. In Russia and some Eastern European countries, this gap reaches 10–12 years. In countries like India and Bangladesh, the gap has historically been smaller or even reversed due to gender inequality affecting female healthcare access, though this has been improving.

The reasons for the female longevity advantage are both biological and behavioural. Biologically, oestrogen appears to offer cardiovascular protection, and women's two X chromosomes may provide redundancy against certain genetic conditions. Behaviourally, men are more likely to smoke, drink heavily, work in dangerous occupations, and delay seeking medical care.

What Drives the Differences?

The factors that predict national life expectancy most reliably include GDP per capita and economic development, healthcare quality and access, smoking and obesity rates, air and water quality, rates of violent conflict, infectious disease burden, and social inequality (countries with high inequality tend to have worse average outcomes even when average income is high).

Life Expectancy vs. Healthy Life Expectancy

An important distinction is between life expectancy (total years lived) and healthy life expectancy (years lived in good health, without significant disability). Japan has a life expectancy of 84 but a healthy life expectancy of around 75 — meaning the average Japanese person spends approximately 9 years in poor health at the end of life. Maximising healthy years, not just total years, is increasingly the focus of public health research.

Our Life Expectancy Calculator uses WHO data to give you a personalised estimate based on your gender and country, while our Biological Age Calculator helps you understand how your lifestyle compares to your chronological age.