Life expectancy at birth in Afghanistan was 30.8 years in 1956: 31.6 for women and 30.2 for men, a gap of 1.4 years. 286,659 people died; 9.0% of them were 65 or older and 54.9% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1956

Life expectancy at birth

30.8

Women

31.6

Men

30.2

Life expectancy at 65

8.9

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

255.4

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

378.5

Deaths

286,659

Deaths per 1,000 people

33.9

Men dying between 15 and 60 (per 1,000)

624

Women dying between 15 and 60 (per 1,000)

571

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1956's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1956

Deaths per 1,000 people per year in each age group. Logarithmic scale: each gridline is ten times the one below. Hover for exact values.

WomenMen

Show the life table data

Age	Death rate, women (‰)	Death rate, men (‰)	Years left, women	Years left, men
0	287.15	328.62	31.6	30.2
1-4	47.32	45.26	40.6	40.2
5-9	9.62	8.71	44.5	43.7
10-14	7.49	6.25	41.6	40.5
15-19	9.86	8.55	38.1	36.7
20-24	12.39	12.26	34.9	33.2
25-29	13.89	13.69	31.9	30.1
30-34	15.75	15.83	29.1	27.1
35-39	17.34	18.71	26.2	24.1
40-44	18.72	22.78	23.4	21.2
45-49	20.34	26.69	20.4	18.5
50-54	26.48	34.12	17.3	15.8
55-59	34.13	42.44	14.4	13.2
60-64	50.67	58.75	11.7	10.8
65-69	69.36	79.96	9.3	8.6
70-74	103.15	113.10	7.2	6.7
75-79	151.55	167.07	5.4	5.1
80-84	220.60	237.97	4.1	3.8
85-89	304.11	331.69	3.1	2.9
90-94	401.46	440.43	2.4	2.2
95-99	508.37	556.47	1.9	1.8
100+	616.14	668.27	1.6	1.5

Mortality in Afghanistan by year

Mortality in Afghanistan, 1956

Year

Country