Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 55.8 years in 2005: 57.2 for women and 54.5 for men, a gap of 2.7 years. 10,883,100 people died; 19.7% of them were 65 or older and 36.6% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 2005

Life expectancy at birth

55.8

Women

57.2

Men

54.5

Life expectancy at 65

12.8

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

73.4

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

114.4

Deaths

10,883,100

Deaths per 1,000 people

11.5

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

356

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

312

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 2005's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 2005

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	70.94	84.01	57.2	54.5
1-4	10.94	11.77	60.3	58.2
5-9	4.48	4.23	58.9	56.9
10-14	2.48	2.43	55.2	53.1
15-19	3.07	3.28	50.9	48.7
20-24	4.22	4.89	46.6	44.4
25-29	5.64	5.73	42.5	40.5
30-34	6.76	6.78	38.7	36.6
35-39	7.60	8.00	34.9	32.8
40-44	8.48	9.68	31.2	29.0
45-49	9.70	12.04	27.4	25.3
50-54	12.51	15.99	23.7	21.7
55-59	16.67	21.43	20.0	18.3
60-64	24.41	30.53	16.5	15.1
65-69	36.24	43.88	13.3	12.2
70-74	55.29	65.46	10.5	9.5
75-79	84.93	99.05	8.1	7.3
80-84	131.03	150.42	6.0	5.5
85-89	192.99	221.88	4.5	4.0
90-94	274.48	312.08	3.4	3.0
95-99	374.86	409.94	2.6	2.4
100+	493.66	523.26	2.0	1.9

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 2005

Year

Country