Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 55.3 years in 2004: 56.6 for women and 54.0 for men, a gap of 2.6 years. 10,861,010 people died; 19.3% of them were 65 or older and 37.3% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 2004

Life expectancy at birth

55.3

Women

56.6

Men

54.0

Life expectancy at 65

12.7

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

76.0

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

119.2

Deaths

10,861,010

Deaths per 1,000 people

11.8

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

360

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

317

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 2004's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 2004

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	73.53	87.03	56.6	54.0
1-4	11.59	12.44	59.9	57.8
5-9	4.62	4.31	58.6	56.7
10-14	2.55	2.46	54.9	52.9
15-19	3.15	3.33	50.6	48.5
20-24	4.35	4.99	46.4	44.3
25-29	5.82	5.87	42.3	40.3
30-34	6.92	6.91	38.5	36.5
35-39	7.76	8.14	34.8	32.7
40-44	8.64	9.82	31.1	28.9
45-49	9.86	12.19	27.3	25.2
50-54	12.67	16.18	23.6	21.7
55-59	16.88	21.58	19.9	18.3
60-64	24.63	30.62	16.5	15.1
65-69	36.60	44.15	13.3	12.1
70-74	55.76	65.80	10.5	9.5
75-79	85.70	99.62	8.0	7.3
80-84	131.59	150.97	6.0	5.4
85-89	193.51	222.82	4.5	4.0
90-94	275.05	313.79	3.4	3.0
95-99	374.94	412.52	2.6	2.4
100+	494.14	524.14	2.0	1.9

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 2004

Year

Country