Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 46.4 years in 1974: 48.3 for women and 44.6 for men, a gap of 3.7 years. 7,713,755 people died; 13.3% of them were 65 or older and 53.1% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1974

Life expectancy at birth

46.4

Women

48.3

Men

44.6

Life expectancy at 65

11.5

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

129.0

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

222.9

Deaths

7,713,755

Deaths per 1,000 people

19.0

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

414

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

335

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1974's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1974

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	131.25	151.48	48.3	44.6
1-4	28.34	29.46	53.9	50.6
5-9	6.76	7.31	56.1	52.7
10-14	3.85	3.99	52.9	49.6
15-19	4.36	4.94	48.9	45.5
20-24	5.29	7.07	44.9	41.6
25-29	6.20	7.64	41.1	38.0
30-34	7.12	8.36	37.3	34.4
35-39	8.11	9.66	33.6	30.7
40-44	9.07	11.62	29.8	27.1
45-49	10.23	14.24	26.1	23.6
50-54	13.24	18.60	22.3	20.2
55-59	18.03	24.69	18.7	16.9
60-64	27.43	35.49	15.2	13.8
65-69	42.41	51.98	12.1	11.0
70-74	67.55	79.50	9.3	8.5
75-79	103.60	119.28	7.1	6.4
80-84	157.02	178.52	5.3	4.8
85-89	226.11	257.11	4.0	3.6
90-94	317.01	347.86	3.0	2.8
95-99	424.37	446.52	2.3	2.2
100+	547.98	568.99	1.8	1.8

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 1974

Year

Country