Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 43.1 years in 1964: 45.0 for women and 41.3 for men, a gap of 3.7 years. 6,820,527 people died; 12.2% 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, 1964

Life expectancy at birth

43.1

Women

45.0

Men

41.3

Life expectancy at 65

11.2

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

143.9

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

256.8

Deaths

6,820,527

Deaths per 1,000 people

21.8

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

446

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

367

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1964's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1964

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	147.85	171.03	45.0	41.3
1-4	35.20	36.80	50.9	47.7
5-9	7.76	8.43	54.3	50.9
10-14	4.42	4.55	51.3	48.0
15-19	5.06	5.71	47.4	44.0
20-24	6.22	8.34	43.6	40.2
25-29	7.17	8.84	39.9	36.8
30-34	8.08	9.44	36.2	33.4
35-39	9.15	10.81	32.6	29.9
40-44	10.19	12.91	29.0	26.4
45-49	11.34	15.59	25.4	23.0
50-54	14.47	19.90	21.7	19.6
55-59	19.68	26.26	18.2	16.4
60-64	29.56	37.55	14.8	13.4
65-69	45.20	54.77	11.7	10.6
70-74	71.24	83.99	9.1	8.2
75-79	107.61	125.69	6.9	6.2
80-84	160.91	185.96	5.2	4.7
85-89	229.67	266.42	3.9	3.5
90-94	321.30	356.25	3.0	2.7
95-99	431.69	460.88	2.3	2.1
100+	537.52	585.96	1.9	1.7

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 1964

Year

Country