Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 54.0 years in 2001: 55.3 for women and 52.7 for men, a gap of 2.7 years. 10,738,954 people died; 18.3% of them were 65 or older and 39.6% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 2001

Life expectancy at birth

54.0

Women

55.3

Men

52.7

Life expectancy at 65

12.6

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

83.4

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

133.0

Deaths

10,738,954

Deaths per 1,000 people

12.6

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

369

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

323

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 2001's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 2001

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	81.31	95.69	55.3	52.7
1-4	13.53	14.45	58.9	56.8
5-9	4.96	4.69	58.1	56.1
10-14	2.74	2.64	54.5	52.4
15-19	3.38	3.55	50.2	48.1
20-24	4.60	5.33	46.0	43.9
25-29	5.96	6.18	42.0	40.0
30-34	6.90	7.11	38.2	36.2
35-39	7.78	8.33	34.5	32.4
40-44	8.78	10.10	30.7	28.6
45-49	10.06	12.54	27.0	25.0
50-54	13.00	16.67	23.3	21.4
55-59	17.40	22.13	19.7	18.1
60-64	25.36	31.21	16.2	14.9
65-69	37.69	44.98	13.1	12.0
70-74	57.95	67.52	10.3	9.4
75-79	88.61	101.78	7.9	7.2
80-84	134.54	152.98	5.9	5.4
85-89	197.81	225.27	4.4	4.0
90-94	281.08	314.44	3.3	3.0
95-99	380.42	409.13	2.5	2.4
100+	500.10	526.76	2.0	1.9

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 2001

Year

Country