Life expectancy at birth in Ghana was 50.5 years in 1978: 52.4 for women and 48.6 for men, a gap of 3.8 years. 171,918 people died; 14.0% of them were 65 or older and 49.2% 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

50.5

Women

52.4

Men

48.6

Life expectancy at 65

12.2

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

105.2

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

174.2

Deaths

171,918

Deaths per 1,000 people

15.3

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

380

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

312

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	103.97	122.04	52.4	48.7
1-4	19.87	20.53	57.0	53.8
5-9	6.36	7.24	57.6	54.2
10-14	3.58	3.86	54.4	51.1
15-19	4.02	4.75	50.3	47.1
20-24	4.80	6.77	46.3	43.2
25-29	5.59	7.13	42.3	39.6
30-34	6.40	7.61	38.5	35.9
35-39	7.33	8.58	34.6	32.2
40-44	8.46	10.36	30.8	28.5
45-49	9.45	12.53	27.0	24.9
50-54	12.18	16.38	23.2	21.3
55-59	16.42	21.44	19.5	17.9
60-64	24.51	30.74	16.0	14.7
65-69	38.13	45.39	12.7	11.7
70-74	60.37	70.24	9.9	9.0
75-79	93.85	108.06	7.5	6.8
80-84	146.66	166.60	5.5	5.0
85-89	217.57	252.12	4.1	3.6
90-94	324.34	380.83	2.9	2.5
95-99	442.25	517.74	2.2	1.9
100+	578.17	660.07	1.7	1.5

Mortality in Ghana by year

Mortality in Ghana, 1978

Year

Country