Which of the following groups of countries has the highest life expectancy at birth?

Short name:

Life expectancy at birth

Topic:

Mortality and burden of disease

Rationale:

Life expectancy at birth reflects the overall mortality level of a population. It summarizes the mortality pattern that prevails across all age groups - children and adolescents, adults and the elderly.

Definition:

The average number of years that a newborn could expect to live, if he or she were to pass through life exposed to the sex- and age-specific death rates prevailing at the time of his or her birth, for a specific year, in a given country, territory, or geographic area.

Method of measurement

Life expectancy at birth is derived from life tables and is based on sex- and age-specific death rates. Life expectancy at birth values from the United Nations correspond to mid-year estimates, consistent with the corresponding United Nations fertility medium-variant quinquennial population projections.

Method of estimation:

Final estimates of age-sex-specific mortality rates for years 1990-2019 were used to compute abridged life tables for 183 WHO Member States with population of 90,000 or greater in 2019. Life expectancies at birth are reported in World Health Statistics 2019 and full life tables are available in the WHO Global Health Observatory WHO applies standard methods to the analysis of Member State data to ensure comparability of estimates across countries. This will inevitably result in differences for some Member States with official estimates for quantities such as life expectancy, where a variety of different projection methods and other methods are used. These WHO estimates of mortality and life expectancies should not be regarded as the nationally endorsed statistics of Member States, which may have been derived using alternative methodologies and assumptions.

Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:

The numbers of deaths estimated from life table and population by age groups  are aggregated by relevant region in order to compute regional life tables

Other possible data sources:

Household surveys

Population census

Preferred data sources:

Civil registration with complete coverage

Expected frequency of data dissemination:

Biennial (Two years)

Expected frequency of data collection:

Biennial (Two years)

Comments:

The lack of complete and reliable mortality data, especially for low income countries and particularly on mortality among adults and the elderly,  necessitates the application of modelling (based on data from other populations) to estimate life expectancy. This may lead to minor differences compared with official life tables prepared by Member States.

Life expectancy at birth is defined as how long, on average, a newborn can expect to live, if current death rates do not change. However, the actual age-specific death rate of any particular birth cohort cannot be known in advance. If rates are falling, actual life spans will be higher than life expectancy calculated using current death rates. Life expectancy at birth is one of the most frequently used health status indicators. Gains in life expectancy at birth can be attributed to a number of factors, including rising living standards, improved lifestyle and better education, as well as greater access to quality health services. This indicator is presented as a total and per gender and is measured in years.

Latest publication

Indicators

• Life expectancy at birth
• Life expectancy at 65
• Infant mortality rates
• Potential years of life lost
• Deaths from cancer
• Suicide rates

Definition of Life expectancy at birth

Life expectancy at birth is defined as how long, on average, a newborn can expect to live, if current death rates do not change. However, the actual age-specific death rate of any particular birth cohort cannot be known in advance. If rates are falling, actual life spans will be higher than life expectancy calculated using current death rates. Life expectancy at birth is one of the most frequently used health status indicators. Gains in life expectancy at birth can be attributed to a number of factors, including rising living standards, improved lifestyle and better education, as well as greater access to quality health services. This indicator is presented as a total and per gender and is measured in years.

Citation

Please cite this indicator as follows:

Source database

Which countries have the highest life expectancy at birth?

What is the life expectancy at birth?

Which of the following are associated with a higher life expectancy at birth?

Which country has the lowest life expectancy at birth and which has the lowest?