Life expectancy at birth in Eastern Africa was 47.0 years in 1978: 49.5 for women and 44.6 for men, a gap of 4.9 years. 2,547,536 people died; 11.6% of them were 65 or older and 53.8% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1978

Life expectancy at birth

47.0

Women

49.5

Men

44.6

Life expectancy at 65

11.9

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

123.2

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

209.0

Deaths

2,547,536

Deaths per 1,000 people

18.5

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

432

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

332

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1978's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1978

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	123.41	145.67	49.5	44.6
1-4	25.25	26.80	54.8	50.4
5-9	6.91	7.77	56.4	51.8
10-14	3.95	4.28	53.3	48.8
15-19	4.32	5.33	49.3	44.8
20-24	5.25	7.94	45.3	40.9
25-29	6.16	8.57	41.5	37.5
30-34	7.05	9.26	37.7	34.0
35-39	8.02	10.59	34.0	30.5
40-44	9.07	12.53	30.2	27.0
45-49	10.18	15.02	26.5	23.6
50-54	13.03	19.07	22.8	20.3
55-59	17.54	24.80	19.1	17.1
60-64	26.27	34.94	15.7	14.0
65-69	40.36	50.65	12.5	11.2
70-74	63.54	77.12	9.7	8.7
75-79	96.58	115.30	7.4	6.6
80-84	145.92	171.30	5.6	4.9
85-89	213.76	251.36	4.2	3.7
90-94	301.55	340.39	3.1	2.8
95-99	402.12	441.71	2.4	2.2
100+	509.24	560.00	2.0	1.8

Mortality in Eastern Africa by year

Mortality in Eastern Africa, 1978

Year

Country