Life Expectancy by Country (2026)

The three highest countries are Monaco (86.5), San Marino (85.8), Hong Kong (85.4); the three lowest are Nigeria (54.6), Chad (55.2), Central African Republic (57.7).

Across all 216 countries the median is 74.7 years and the simple (unweighted) average is 74; the spread from 54.6 to 86.5 shows how differently countries fare on this measure.

Over roughly the last decade the biggest increases were in Central African Republic (+17.4 pts), South Sudan (+12.1 pts), Eswatini (+10.8 pts), while the largest decreases were in Palestine (-3.6 pts), Jamaica (-0.8 pts), Mauritius (-0.4 pts).

By continent, the leaders are Hong Kong in Asia (85.4), Monaco in Europe (86.5), Tunisia in Africa (76.7), Bermuda in North America (82.5), Chile in South America (81.4), French Polynesia in Oceania (84.2).

Life expectancy at birth is the number of years a newborn would live if the age-specific mortality rates of the year of birth stayed the same throughout its life. It is the most widely used summary measure of population health.

Source: World Bank Open Data (indicator SP.DYN.LE00.IN). Countries without a published value are not ranked. Each country's own page shows the full historical series and its rank on this and every other indicator.