Life expectancy at birth in Afghanistan was 40.1 years in 1978: 41.5 for women and 38.9 for men, a gap of 2.6 years. 329,008 people died; 9.9% of them were 65 or older and 54.4% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1978

Life expectancy at birth

40.1

Women

41.5

Men

38.9

Life expectancy at 65

10.2

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

173.8

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

263.9

Deaths

329,008

Deaths per 1,000 people

24.2

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

539

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

456

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1978's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1978

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	184.74	208.39	41.5	38.9
1-4	30.22	28.41	48.6	46.5
5-9	6.76	6.14	50.6	47.8
10-14	5.07	4.42	47.2	44.2
15-19	6.68	6.91	43.4	40.2
20-24	8.45	10.70	39.8	36.5
25-29	9.50	11.60	36.4	33.4
30-34	10.76	12.58	33.0	30.2
35-39	11.97	14.47	29.7	27.0
40-44	13.30	17.24	26.4	23.8
45-49	15.06	20.49	23.0	20.8
50-54	19.78	26.41	19.6	17.7
55-59	26.02	34.03	16.4	14.9
60-64	38.75	47.41	13.3	12.2
65-69	55.04	65.89	10.6	9.7
70-74	83.45	94.61	8.2	7.6
75-79	124.43	139.44	6.2	5.8
80-84	186.77	203.73	4.6	4.3
85-89	268.05	295.11	3.5	3.2
90-94	368.82	406.97	2.6	2.4
95-99	486.39	534.88	2.0	1.9
100+	625.12	678.47	1.6	1.5

Mortality in Afghanistan by year

Mortality in Afghanistan, 1978

Year

Country