Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 51.5 years in 1991: 53.2 for women and 49.8 for men, a gap of 3.4 years. 9,648,085 people died; 16.2% of them were 65 or older and 46.3% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1991

Life expectancy at birth

51.5

Women

53.2

Men

49.8

Life expectancy at 65

12.1

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

100.0

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

166.1

Deaths

9,648,085

Deaths per 1,000 people

14.6

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

379

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

311

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1991's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1991

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	99.26	115.57	53.2	49.8
1-4	18.76	19.67	57.6	54.7
5-9	5.49	5.54	58.0	55.1
10-14	3.21	3.20	54.5	51.5
15-19	3.68	4.07	50.4	47.3
20-24	4.49	5.86	46.3	43.3
25-29	5.29	6.39	42.3	39.5
30-34	6.10	7.11	38.3	35.7
35-39	7.12	8.38	34.4	31.9
40-44	8.24	10.28	30.6	28.1
45-49	9.66	12.96	26.8	24.5
50-54	12.67	17.19	23.0	20.9
55-59	17.11	22.84	19.3	17.6
60-64	25.69	32.79	15.8	14.4
65-69	39.50	47.91	12.6	11.5
70-74	62.12	72.68	9.8	9.0
75-79	95.55	109.33	7.5	6.8
80-84	145.61	164.94	5.6	5.1
85-89	213.02	241.47	4.2	3.8
90-94	301.38	335.47	3.1	2.9
95-99	406.77	440.93	2.4	2.2
100+	528.93	565.58	1.9	1.8

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 1991

Year

Country