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Data

Life expectancy

Long-run data – Riley; Zijdeman et al.; HMD; UN WPP

What you should know about this indicator

  • Across the world, people are living longer. In 1900, the global average life expectancy was 32 years. By 2023, this had more than doubled to 73 years.
  • Countries around the world made big improvements, and life expectancy more than doubled in every region. This wasn’t just due to falling child mortality; people started living longer at all ages.
  • Even after World War II, there have been large drops in life expectancy, such as during the Great Leap Forward famine in China, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, the Rwandan genocide, or the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • This chart shows long-run estimates of life expectancy compiled by our team from several data sources.
  • Period life expectancy is an indicator that summarizes death rates across all age groups in one particular year. It shows how long the average baby born in that year would be expected to live if they experienced the same chances of dying at each age as people did in that year.
  • Before 1950, for country-level data, we rely on the Human Mortality Database (2024) combined with Zijdeman (2015). For regional data, we use Riley (2005). From 1950 onward, we use the United Nations World Population Prospects (2024).
Life expectancy
Long-run data – Riley; Zijdeman et al.; HMD; UN WPP
is the number of years the average person born in a certain year would live if they experienced the same chances of dying at each age as people did that year.
Source
Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2024); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
December 3, 2024
Next expected update
December 2025
Date range
1543–2023
Unit
years

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Human Mortality Database

The Human Mortality Database (HMD) is a research resource that provides detailed mortality and population data for national populations with high-quality vital statistics. It includes original calculations of death rates and life tables, as well as the underlying data — such as birth counts, death counts, and census-based population estimates — used to produce these metrics.

Its scope is limited to countries with virtually complete death registration and census coverage, mostly wealthy and industrialized nations. The database’s core mission is to document the historical rise in human longevity and support research into its causes and implications. HMD follows a rigorous, uniform methodology focused on transparency, reproducibility, and comparability, while acknowledging limitations such as age misreporting and data coverage issues.

Each country’s dataset is curated and quality-checked by dedicated researchers, ensuring reliability for demographic and public health analysis.

Retrieved on
November 27, 2024
Retrieved from
https://www.mortality.org/Data/ZippedDataFiles
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
HMD. Human Mortality Database. Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Germany), University of California, Berkeley (USA), and French Institute for Demographic Studies (France). Available at www.mortality.org.
See also the methods protocol:
Wilmoth, J. R., Andreev, K., Jdanov, D., Glei, D. A., Riffe, T., Boe, C., Bubenheim, M., Philipov, D., Shkolnikov, V., Vachon, P., Winant, C., & Barbieri, M. (2021). Methods protocol for the human mortality database (v6). Available online (needs log in to mortality.org).

The Human Mortality Database (HMD) is a research resource that provides detailed mortality and population data for national populations with high-quality vital statistics. It includes original calculations of death rates and life tables, as well as the underlying data — such as birth counts, death counts, and census-based population estimates — used to produce these metrics.

Its scope is limited to countries with virtually complete death registration and census coverage, mostly wealthy and industrialized nations. The database’s core mission is to document the historical rise in human longevity and support research into its causes and implications. HMD follows a rigorous, uniform methodology focused on transparency, reproducibility, and comparability, while acknowledging limitations such as age misreporting and data coverage issues.

Each country’s dataset is curated and quality-checked by dedicated researchers, ensuring reliability for demographic and public health analysis.

Retrieved on
November 27, 2024
Retrieved from
https://www.mortality.org/Data/ZippedDataFiles
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
HMD. Human Mortality Database. Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Germany), University of California, Berkeley (USA), and French Institute for Demographic Studies (France). Available at www.mortality.org.
See also the methods protocol:
Wilmoth, J. R., Andreev, K., Jdanov, D., Glei, D. A., Riffe, T., Boe, C., Bubenheim, M., Philipov, D., Shkolnikov, V., Vachon, P., Winant, C., & Barbieri, M. (2021). Methods protocol for the human mortality database (v6). Available online (needs log in to mortality.org).

United Nations – World Population Prospects

The World Population Prospects 2024 is the 28th edition of the official estimates and projections of the global population published by the United Nations since 1951. The estimates are based on all available sources of data on population size and levels of fertility, mortality, and international migration for 237 countries or areas.

For each revision, any new, recent, and historical, information that has become available from population censuses, vital registration of births and deaths, and household surveys is considered to produce consistent time series of population estimates for each country or areas from 1950 to today

For the estimation period between 1950 and 2023, data from 1,910 censuses were considered in the present evaluation, which is 79 more than the 2022 revision. In some countries, population registers based on administrative data systems provide the necessary information. Population data from censuses or registers referring to 2019 or later were available for 114 countries or areas, representing 48 per cent of the 237 countries or areas included in this analysis (and 54 per cent of the world population). For 43 countries or areas, the most recent available population count was from the period 2014-2018, and for another 57 locations from the period 2009-2013. For the remaining 23 countries or areas, the most recent available census data were from before 2009, that is more than 15 years ago.

Retrieved on
December 2, 2024
Retrieved from
https://population.un.org/wpp/downloads/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024, Online Edition.

The World Population Prospects 2024 is the 28th edition of the official estimates and projections of the global population published by the United Nations since 1951. The estimates are based on all available sources of data on population size and levels of fertility, mortality, and international migration for 237 countries or areas.

For each revision, any new, recent, and historical, information that has become available from population censuses, vital registration of births and deaths, and household surveys is considered to produce consistent time series of population estimates for each country or areas from 1950 to today

For the estimation period between 1950 and 2023, data from 1,910 censuses were considered in the present evaluation, which is 79 more than the 2022 revision. In some countries, population registers based on administrative data systems provide the necessary information. Population data from censuses or registers referring to 2019 or later were available for 114 countries or areas, representing 48 per cent of the 237 countries or areas included in this analysis (and 54 per cent of the world population). For 43 countries or areas, the most recent available population count was from the period 2014-2018, and for another 57 locations from the period 2009-2013. For the remaining 23 countries or areas, the most recent available census data were from before 2009, that is more than 15 years ago.

Retrieved on
December 2, 2024
Retrieved from
https://population.un.org/wpp/downloads/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024, Online Edition.

Zijdeman et al. – Life Expectancy at birth

This dataset provides the period Life Expectancy at birth per country and year. The overall aim of the dataset is to cover the entire world from 1500-2000.

This version (version 2) was built as part of the OECD "How was life" project. The dataset has nearly global coverage for the post-1950 period, while pre-1950 coverage decreases the more historic the period. Depending on sources, the data are annual estimates, five-yearly or decadal estimates.

The sources used are:

For specifics concerning (selections of) the sources, see the R code available in the working paper here.

Retrieved on
October 10, 2023
Retrieved from
https://clio-infra.eu/Indicators/LifeExpectancyatBirthTotal.html
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Zijdeman, Richard and Filipa Ribeira da Silva (2015). Life Expectancy at Birth (Total). http://hdl.handle.net/10622/LKYT53, accessed via the Clio Infra website.

This dataset provides the period Life Expectancy at birth per country and year. The overall aim of the dataset is to cover the entire world from 1500-2000.

This version (version 2) was built as part of the OECD "How was life" project. The dataset has nearly global coverage for the post-1950 period, while pre-1950 coverage decreases the more historic the period. Depending on sources, the data are annual estimates, five-yearly or decadal estimates.

The sources used are:

For specifics concerning (selections of) the sources, see the R code available in the working paper here.

Retrieved on
October 10, 2023
Retrieved from
https://clio-infra.eu/Indicators/LifeExpectancyatBirthTotal.html
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Zijdeman, Richard and Filipa Ribeira da Silva (2015). Life Expectancy at Birth (Total). http://hdl.handle.net/10622/LKYT53, accessed via the Clio Infra website.

James C. Riley – Estimates of Regional and Global Life Expectancy, 1800-2001

Historians and demographers have gone through considerable trouble to reconstruct life expectancy in the past in individual countries.

This overview collects information from a large body of that work and links estimates for historical populations to those provided by the United Nations, the World Bank, and other sources for 1950–2001. The result shows regional and global life expectancy at birth for selected years from 1800 to 2001. The bibliography of more than 700 sources is published separately on the web.

Retrieved on
October 10, 2023
Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00083.x
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Riley, J.C. (2005), Estimates of Regional and Global Life Expectancy, 1800–2001. Population and Development Review, 31: 537-543. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00083.x

Historians and demographers have gone through considerable trouble to reconstruct life expectancy in the past in individual countries.

This overview collects information from a large body of that work and links estimates for historical populations to those provided by the United Nations, the World Bank, and other sources for 1950–2001. The result shows regional and global life expectancy at birth for selected years from 1800 to 2001. The bibliography of more than 700 sources is published separately on the web.

Retrieved on
October 10, 2023
Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00083.x
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Riley, J.C. (2005), Estimates of Regional and Global Life Expectancy, 1800–2001. Population and Development Review, 31: 537-543. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00083.x

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline
Notes on our processing step for this indicator

This chart combines data from several sources. For country-level data before 1950, we use the Human Mortality Database (2024) data and Zijdeman et al. (2015). For country-years where these sources overlap, we use the Human Mortality Database.

For regional data, before 1950, we use Riley's (2005) estimates.

From 1950 onwards, we use the United Nations World Population Prospects (2024) for both country-level and regional data.

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Life expectancy”, part of the following publication: Saloni Dattani, Lucas Rodés-Guirao, Hannah Ritchie, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, and Max Roser (2023) - “Life Expectancy”. Data adapted from Human Mortality Database, United Nations, Zijdeman et al., James C. Riley. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20250731-112524/grapher/life-expectancy.html [online resource] (archived on July 31, 2025).
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2024); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2024); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Life expectancy – Riley; Zijdeman et al.; HMD; UN WPP – Long-run data” [dataset]. Human Mortality Database, “Human Mortality Database”; United Nations, “World Population Prospects”; Zijdeman et al., “Life Expectancy at birth v2”; James C. Riley, “Estimates of Regional and Global Life Expectancy, 1800-2001” [original data]. Retrieved July 31, 2025 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20250731-112524/grapher/life-expectancy.html (archived on July 31, 2025).