Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 39.1 years in 1954: 40.9 for women and 37.4 for men, a gap of 3.5 years. 6,262,981 people died; 11.2% of them were 65 or older and 55.8% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1954

Life expectancy at birth

39.1

Women

40.9

Men

37.4

Life expectancy at 65

10.9

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

163.7

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

303.0

Deaths

6,262,981

Deaths per 1,000 people

25.3

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

478

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

402

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1954's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1954

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	170.55	197.87	40.9	37.4
1-4	45.59	47.70	47.2	44.2
5-9	9.22	10.06	52.2	48.9
10-14	5.29	5.39	49.5	46.4
15-19	5.85	6.51	45.8	42.6
20-24	7.06	9.41	42.1	38.9
25-29	8.18	10.01	38.5	35.6
30-34	9.25	10.69	35.0	32.3
35-39	10.42	12.18	31.5	29.0
40-44	11.49	14.37	28.1	25.6
45-49	12.66	17.17	24.6	22.3
50-54	16.02	21.58	21.0	19.1
55-59	21.63	28.07	17.6	16.0
60-64	32.15	39.71	14.3	13.0
65-69	48.50	57.43	11.3	10.4
70-74	75.82	87.77	8.8	8.0
75-79	113.67	130.90	6.7	6.1
80-84	169.33	192.69	5.0	4.5
85-89	243.05	274.03	3.8	3.4
90-94	332.00	359.42	2.9	2.7
95-99	435.21	462.42	2.3	2.1
100+	546.45	580.89	1.8	1.7

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 1954

Year

Country