Who dies: share of all deaths, by age and sex

China

1956

Life expectancy: 47.8

Life expectancy at birth, 1950–2100 · click to pick a year

Year

-5 -1 1956 +1 +5

Country

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Life expectancy at birth in China was 47.8 years in 1956: 49.8 for women and 46.0 for men, a gap of 3.7 years. 11,916,102 people died; 23.7% of them were 65 or older and 36.5% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1956

Life expectancy at birth

47.8

Women

49.8

Men

46.0

Life expectancy at 65

9.5

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

112.6

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

175.5

Deaths

11,916,102

Deaths per 1,000 people

19.3

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

456

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

353

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1956's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1956

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	115.40	128.78	49.8	46.1
1-4	18.67	18.34	54.7	51.2
5-9	7.17	6.82	54.8	50.9
10-14	3.96	4.78	51.7	47.6
15-19	3.59	4.39	47.7	43.7
20-24	4.72	5.46	43.5	39.6
25-29	5.24	6.20	39.5	35.6
30-34	5.85	6.86	35.5	31.7
35-39	7.04	8.27	31.5	27.7
40-44	9.57	12.38	27.5	23.8
45-49	12.14	17.04	23.7	20.1
50-54	17.04	26.10	20.0	16.7
55-59	21.68	34.85	16.6	13.6
60-64	36.97	57.94	13.2	10.8
65-69	57.77	82.81	10.4	8.6
70-74	86.90	117.47	8.0	6.7
75-79	126.49	159.52	6.1	5.2
80-84	198.04	228.57	4.4	4.0
85-89	285.06	316.94	3.3	3.0
90-94	405.04	447.37	2.4	2.2
95-99	558.90	645.72	1.8	1.5
100+	698.37	946.16	1.4	1.1

Mortality in China by year

Mortality in China, 1956

Year

Country