Life expectancy at birth in Eastern Europe was 68.9 years in 1978: 73.4 for women and 63.9 for men, a gap of 9.5 years. 3,032,832 people died; 59.9% of them were 65 or older and 4.6% children under five. The most common age at death was 70-74. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1978

Life expectancy at birth

68.9

Women

73.4

Men

63.9

Life expectancy at 65

14.2

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

23.4

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

28.5

Deaths

3,032,832

Deaths per 1,000 people

10.4

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

301

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

120

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	20.47	27.18	73.4	63.9
1-4	1.18	1.44	73.9	64.7
5-9	0.42	0.66	70.3	61.0
10-14	0.35	0.61	65.4	56.2
15-19	0.53	1.53	60.5	51.4
20-24	0.69	2.59	55.7	46.8
25-29	0.89	2.91	50.9	42.4
30-34	1.17	3.57	46.1	37.9
35-39	1.74	5.43	41.3	33.6
40-44	2.55	7.87	36.7	29.4
45-49	3.82	11.08	32.1	25.5
50-54	5.70	15.34	27.7	21.8
55-59	8.53	21.09	23.4	18.3
60-64	13.48	30.62	19.3	15.1
65-69	22.07	43.53	15.5	12.2
70-74	38.12	65.19	11.9	9.5
75-79	66.30	99.38	8.9	7.3
80-84	114.12	151.26	6.5	5.4
85-89	184.06	224.58	4.6	4.0
90-94	282.68	323.79	3.3	2.9
95-99	410.30	437.96	2.4	2.2
100+	570.65	569.87	1.8	1.8

Mortality in Eastern Europe by year

Mortality in Eastern Europe, 1978

Year

Country