Life Expectancy by Country – Ranked 2026

Countries ranked by life expectancy at birth, measured in years, using the latest internationally compiled demographic data.

Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn child is expected to live if mortality patterns at the time of its birth remain constant in the future.

Global life expectancy at birth is estimated at 73 years.Since 1900, the global average life expectancy has more than doubled.

Monaco and San Marino have the world’s highest life expectancy at 86 years, followed closely by Hong Kong SAR, China, and Liechtenstein at 85 years. French Polynesia and Switzerland also rank among the top countries at 84 years. On the other end of the scale, Nigeria has the lowest life expectancy at just 54 years.

Several countries and territories share the world’s highest life expectancy, with averages between 84 and 86 years.

Many more nations fall within this narrow range, so the top ten shown below are only a sample of the highest performers.

The same applies to the lowest performers, where life expectancy ranges from 54 to 61 years. Many countries fall within this band, so the ten listed below are also representative rather than exhaustive.

Countries ranked by life expectancy

The table below ranks 217 of the world’s countries and territories by life expectancy at birth (in years) in 2023, using the latest available estimates as of 2026 from the United Nations World Population Prospects report.

Some countries may have been omitted due to insufficient data.

Country	Life Expectancy
Aruba	76
Afghanistan	66
Angola	65
Albania	80
Andorra	84
United Arab Emirates	83
Argentina	77
Armenia	77
American Samoa	73
Antigua and Barbuda	78
Australia	83
Austria	82
Azerbaijan	74
Burundi	64
Belgium	82
Benin	61
Burkina Faso	61
Bangladesh	75
Bulgaria	76
Bahrain	81
Bahamas, The	75
Bosnia and Herzegovina	78
Belarus	74
Belize	74
Bermuda	82
Bolivia	69
Brazil	76
Barbados	76
Brunei Darussalam	75
Bhutan	73
Botswana	69
Central African Republic	57
Canada	82
Switzerland	84
Channel Islands	81
Chile	81
China	78
Cote d'Ivoire	62
Cameroon	64
Congo, Dem. Rep.	62
Congo, Rep.	66
Colombia	78
Comoros	67
Cabo Verde	76
Costa Rica	81
Cuba	78
Curacao	77
Cayman Islands	80
Cyprus	82
Czechia	80
Germany	81
Djibouti	66
Dominica	71
Denmark	82
Dominican Republic	74
Algeria	76
Ecuador	77
Egypt, Arab Rep.	72
Eritrea	69
Spain	84
Estonia	78
Ethiopia	67
Finland	82
Fiji	67
France	83
Faroe Islands	83
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	67
Gabon	68
United Kingdom	81
Georgia	74
Ghana	65
Gibraltar	84
Guinea	61
Gambia, The	66
Guinea-Bissau	64
Equatorial Guinea	64
Greece	82
Grenada	75
Greenland	72
Guatemala	73
Guam	77
Guyana	70
Hong Kong SAR, China	85
Honduras	73
Croatia	78
Haiti	65
Hungary	77
Indonesia	71
Isle of Man	81
India	72
Ireland	83
Iran, Islamic Rep.	78
Iraq	72
Iceland	83
Israel	83
Italy	84
Jamaica	71
Jordan	78
Japan	84
Kazakhstan	74
Kenya	64
Kyrgyz Republic	72
Cambodia	71
Kiribati	66
St. Kitts and Nevis	72
Korea, Rep.	83
Kuwait	83
Lao PDR	69
Lebanon	78
Liberia	62
Libya	69
St. Lucia	73
Liechtenstein	85
Sri Lanka	77
Lesotho	57
Lithuania	77
Luxembourg	83
Latvia	76
Macao SAR, China	83
St. Martin (French part)	80
Morocco	75
Monaco	86
Moldova	71
Madagascar	64
Maldives	81
Mexico	75
Marshall Islands	67
North Macedonia	75
Mali	60
Malta	84
Myanmar	67
Montenegro	78
Mongolia	72
Northern Mariana Islands	79
Mozambique	64
Mauritania	68
Mauritius	73
Malawi	67
Malaysia	77
Namibia	67
New Caledonia	79
Niger	61
Nigeria	54
Nicaragua	75
Netherlands	82
Norway	83
Nepal	70
Nauru	62
New Zealand	83
Oman	80
Pakistan	68
Panama	80
Peru	78
Philippines	70
Palau	69
Papua New Guinea	66
Poland	79
Puerto Rico (US)	82
Korea, Dem. People's Rep.	74
Portugal	82
Paraguay	74
West Bank and Gaza	65
French Polynesia	84
Qatar	82
Romania	77
Russian Federation	73
Rwanda	68
Saudi Arabia	79
Sudan	66
Senegal	69
Singapore	83
Solomon Islands	71
Sierra Leone	62
El Salvador	72
San Marino	86
Somalia, Fed. Rep.	59
Serbia	76
South Sudan	58
Sao Tome and Principe	70
Suriname	74
Slovak Republic	78
Slovenia	82
Sweden	83
Eswatini	64
Sint Maarten (Dutch part)	76
Seychelles	75
Syrian Arab Republic	72
Turks and Caicos Islands	78
Chad	55
Togo	63
Thailand	76
Tajikistan	72
Turkmenistan	70
Timor-Leste	68
Tonga	73
Trinidad and Tobago	73
Tunisia	77
Turkiye	77
Tuvalu	67
Tanzania	67
Uganda	68
Ukraine	73
Uruguay	78
United States	78
Uzbekistan	72
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	71
Venezuela, RB	73
British Virgin Islands	77
Virgin Islands (U.S.)	81
Viet Nam	75
Vanuatu	71
Samoa	72
Kosovo	78
Yemen, Rep.	69
South Africa	66
Zambia	66
Zimbabwe	63

Global trends and anomalies in life expectancy

While global life expectancy has more than doubled since 1900, the pace of improvement is no longer uniform.

Deceleration in progress

During the 20th century, medical advances, better sanitation, and rising living standards caused life expectancy to soar worldwide.

Today, many high-income nations are seeing slower gains. The curve is flattening as populations age and chronic diseases replace infectious ones as the main causes of death.

Rising obesity rates in many countries are also contributing to slower improvements in life expectancy.

Pandemic and health crises

The COVID-19 pandemic and regional health emergencies such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic temporarily reversed decades of progress in several countries.

In some cases, national averages fell to levels last seen nearly ten years earlier, revealing how fragile public-health gains can be.

Regional divergence

While most regions have improved, large gaps remain.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to report some of the lowest life expectancies, whereas Europe and Oceania maintain the highest.

East Asian economies such as Hong Kong and Japan also rank among the world’s leaders.

Small states outperforming larger nations

Microstates such as Monaco, San Marino, and Liechtenstein consistently top the rankings.

Their combination of high income, small populations, and strong healthcare systems allows them to achieve exceptionally high average lifespans.

Rapid improvement in emerging regions

Several middle-income countries in Asia and Latin America have achieved dramatic gains in just a few decades. Nations such as South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, China, Chile, and Costa Rica have added more than 20 years to their average lifespan since the mid-20th century.

Investments in healthcare, immunization, and education have pushed their life expectancy figures closer to those of wealthier nations.

Changing gender gap

Women continue to live longer than men, but the difference is narrowing in some countries.

This shift reflects improvements in men’s health and lifestyle as well as changing social and occupational patterns among women.

Inequality within countries

Even in nations with high averages, life expectancy varies widely by income, education, and geography.

Urban residents and wealthier groups often live several years longer than their rural or low-income counterparts.

Differences in healthcare access and health spending also widen these gaps.

Longevity versus healthy lifespan

Living longer does not always mean living healthier. In many developed countries, chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and dementia add years of life with limited quality.

As a result, “healthy life expectancy” is emerging as an equally important measure of well-being.

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024 Revision. Data retrieved from the UN Population Division database.