Africa Mortality 1959: Deaths by Age and Life Expectancy

Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 41.2 years in 1959: 43.1 for women and 39.4 for men, a gap of 3.7 years. 6,479,078 people died; 11.5% of them were 65 or older and 55.1% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1959

Life expectancy at birth

41.2

Women

43.1

Men

39.4

Life expectancy at 65

11.1

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

153.1

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

277.8

Deaths

6,479,078

Deaths per 1,000 people

23.4

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

463

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

384

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1959's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1959

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	158.23	183.45	43.1	39.4
1-4	39.62	41.66	49.3	46.0
5-9	8.36	9.13	53.3	49.9
10-14	4.82	4.98	50.5	47.1
15-19	5.50	6.17	46.6	43.2
20-24	6.63	8.93	42.9	39.5
25-29	7.64	9.47	39.2	36.2
30-34	8.64	10.11	35.7	32.8
35-39	9.76	11.52	32.1	29.4
40-44	10.81	13.67	28.6	26.0
45-49	11.96	16.38	25.0	22.7
50-54	15.19	20.78	21.4	19.4
55-59	20.56	27.21	17.9	16.2
60-64	30.73	38.63	14.6	13.2
65-69	46.56	56.19	11.6	10.5
70-74	72.89	85.81	9.0	8.1
75-79	109.96	128.25	6.8	6.1
80-84	163.99	189.47	5.1	4.6
85-89	234.27	269.20	3.9	3.5
90-94	330.04	356.26	2.9	2.7
95-99	427.73	449.99	2.3	2.2
100+	539.43	572.12	1.9	1.8

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 1959

Year

Country