Life expectancy at birth in Eastern Africa was 40.9 years in 1956: 43.1 for women and 38.8 for men, a gap of 4.3 years. 1,766,889 people died; 10.9% of them were 65 or older and 54.1% 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

40.9

Women

43.1

Men

38.8

Life expectancy at 65

11.0

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

152.3

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

268.8

Deaths

1,766,889

Deaths per 1,000 people

23.4

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

485

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

397

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	155.68	184.38	43.1	38.8
1-4	36.36	38.83	49.1	45.4
5-9	9.27	10.52	52.4	48.6
10-14	5.28	5.71	49.8	46.1
15-19	5.66	6.51	46.1	42.4
20-24	6.93	9.29	42.3	38.7
25-29	8.15	10.09	38.7	35.4
30-34	9.20	11.01	35.2	32.1
35-39	10.31	12.65	31.8	28.8
40-44	11.41	14.92	28.3	25.5
45-49	12.58	17.75	24.8	22.3
50-54	15.76	22.18	21.3	19.1
55-59	21.01	28.29	17.8	16.0
60-64	31.15	39.56	14.5	13.1
65-69	47.27	57.02	11.5	10.4
70-74	73.61	86.74	8.9	8.0
75-79	110.42	129.65	6.8	6.1
80-84	163.16	190.18	5.2	4.6
85-89	233.05	270.17	3.9	3.5
90-94	321.46	354.14	3.0	2.7
95-99	420.19	450.35	2.3	2.2
100+	531.55	562.27	1.9	1.8

Mortality in Eastern Africa by year

Mortality in Eastern Africa, 1956

Year

Country