Life expectancy at birth in Africa was 59.8 years in 2012: 61.4 for women and 58.2 for men, a gap of 3.2 years. 10,742,252 people died; 22.9% of them were 65 or older and 32.7% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 2012

Life expectancy at birth

59.8

Women

61.4

Men

58.2

Life expectancy at 65

13.2

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

58.3

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

87.4

Deaths

10,742,252

Deaths per 1,000 people

9.5

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

312

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

259

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 2012's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 2012

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	55.53	66.25	61.4	58.2
1-4	7.58	8.18	63.9	61.1
5-9	3.55	3.39	61.8	59.1
10-14	2.02	2.04	57.8	55.0
15-19	2.52	2.85	53.4	50.6
20-24	3.22	4.13	49.1	46.3
25-29	4.05	4.66	44.8	42.2
30-34	4.86	5.40	40.7	38.1
35-39	5.74	6.46	36.6	34.1
40-44	6.70	7.97	32.6	30.1
45-49	7.88	10.13	28.6	26.2
50-54	10.52	14.00	24.7	22.5
55-59	14.37	19.08	20.9	18.9
60-64	21.43	27.92	17.2	15.6
65-69	32.98	41.29	13.9	12.5
70-74	51.36	62.29	10.9	9.8
75-79	79.39	94.94	8.4	7.5
80-84	123.08	144.76	6.3	5.6
85-89	185.38	217.19	4.7	4.1
90-94	262.23	308.43	3.5	3.1
95-99	355.81	408.02	2.7	2.4
100+	471.12	529.94	2.1	1.9

Mortality in Africa by year

Mortality in Africa, 2012

Year

Country