Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 54.4 years in 2002: 55.7 for women and 53.1 for men, a gap of 2.6 years. 10,804,551 people died; 18.6% of them were 65 or older and 38.8% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 2002

Life expectancy at birth

54.4

Women

55.7

Men

53.1

Life expectancy at 65

12.6

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

81.1

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

128.5

Deaths

10,804,551

Deaths per 1,000 people

12.4

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

367

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

322

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 2002's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 2002

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	78.90	93.00	55.7	53.1
1-4	12.87	13.76	59.2	57.1
5-9	4.88	4.57	58.2	56.3
10-14	2.69	2.58	54.6	52.5
15-19	3.32	3.48	50.3	48.2
20-24	4.54	5.24	46.1	44.0
25-29	5.98	6.14	42.1	40.1
30-34	6.95	7.08	38.3	36.2
35-39	7.84	8.35	34.6	32.4
40-44	8.76	10.04	30.8	28.7
45-49	10.02	12.44	27.1	25.1
50-54	12.87	16.54	23.4	21.5
55-59	17.27	21.99	19.7	18.1
60-64	25.14	31.04	16.3	15.0
65-69	37.42	44.77	13.1	12.0
70-74	57.27	66.90	10.3	9.4
75-79	87.80	101.09	7.9	7.2
80-84	133.69	152.34	6.0	5.4
85-89	196.51	224.40	4.5	4.0
90-94	279.36	314.11	3.3	3.0
95-99	378.87	410.61	2.6	2.4
100+	499.20	527.54	2.0	1.9

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 2002

Year

Country