Life expectancy at birth in Latin America and the Caribbean was 62.6 years in 1978: 65.3 for women and 60.1 for men, a gap of 5.3 years. 2,948,339 people died; 28.8% of them were 65 or older and 35.2% 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

62.6

Women

65.3

Men

60.1

Life expectancy at 65

13.6

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

70.3

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

91.7

Deaths

2,948,339

Deaths per 1,000 people

8.6

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

272

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

186

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	67.11	80.78	65.3	60.1
1-4	5.60	6.08	68.8	64.0
5-9	1.23	1.56	66.3	61.5
10-14	0.94	1.21	61.7	57.0
15-19	1.42	2.13	57.0	52.3
20-24	1.89	3.26	52.4	47.9
25-29	2.19	3.56	47.8	43.6
30-34	2.61	3.92	43.3	39.4
35-39	3.42	5.04	38.9	35.1
40-44	4.27	6.37	34.5	30.9
45-49	5.78	8.87	30.2	26.8
50-54	8.05	12.35	26.0	22.9
55-59	11.58	17.83	22.0	19.2
60-64	17.70	26.37	18.1	15.8
65-69	28.18	40.00	14.6	12.6
70-74	45.22	60.69	11.4	9.9
75-79	73.14	94.00	8.6	7.5
80-84	119.10	144.53	6.4	5.6
85-89	185.24	214.94	4.6	4.1
90-94	274.34	310.96	3.4	3.0
95-99	389.91	440.30	2.5	2.2
100+	509.61	564.75	2.0	1.8

Mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean by year

Mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1978

Year

Country