Life expectancy at birth in Afghanistan was 38.8 years in 1979: 40.9 for women and 37.1 for men, a gap of 3.8 years. 348,736 people died; 9.8% of them were 65 or older and 52.8% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1979

Life expectancy at birth

38.8

Women

40.9

Men

37.1

Life expectancy at 65

9.9

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

173.1

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

266.5

Deaths

348,736

Deaths per 1,000 people

25.5

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

584

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

466

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1979's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1979

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	183.91	207.43	40.9	37.1
1-4	31.35	29.50	47.9	44.3
5-9	7.37	6.69	49.9	45.6
10-14	5.26	4.78	46.7	42.0
15-19	6.80	8.22	42.9	38.0
20-24	8.60	13.42	39.3	34.5
25-29	9.70	14.38	35.9	31.7
30-34	10.94	14.92	32.6	28.9
35-39	12.21	16.69	29.3	25.9
40-44	13.72	19.33	26.0	22.9
45-49	15.71	22.66	22.6	20.0
50-54	20.53	28.72	19.3	17.1
55-59	27.02	36.80	16.1	14.4
60-64	40.22	50.55	13.0	11.8
65-69	57.49	69.79	10.4	9.5
70-74	86.93	99.27	8.0	7.4
75-79	127.72	143.64	6.1	5.6
80-84	192.62	210.65	4.5	4.2
85-89	279.03	306.96	3.3	3.1
90-94	388.32	427.32	2.5	2.3
95-99	519.20	567.28	1.9	1.7
100+	691.61	744.93	1.5	1.3

Mortality in Afghanistan by year

Mortality in Afghanistan, 1979

Year

Country