Life expectancy at birth in Lesotho was 55.8 years in 1979: 60.1 for women and 51.9 for men, a gap of 8.2 years. 17,288 people died; 21.3% of them were 65 or older and 40.7% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1979

Life expectancy at birth

55.8

Women

60.1

Men

51.9

Life expectancy at 65

12.4

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

96.8

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

129.6

Deaths

17,288

Deaths per 1,000 people

12.7

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

411

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

224

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1979's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1979

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	95.91	111.62	60.1	51.9
1-4	9.02	9.54	65.1	56.8
5-9	2.50	2.79	63.4	55.0
10-14	1.70	2.07	59.1	50.7
15-19	2.15	3.26	54.6	46.2
20-24	2.66	4.99	50.2	41.9
25-29	3.05	6.11	45.8	37.9
30-34	3.55	7.51	41.5	34.0
35-39	4.31	9.54	37.2	30.2
40-44	5.39	12.00	32.9	26.6
45-49	6.80	15.33	28.8	23.1
50-54	9.43	20.25	24.7	19.7
55-59	13.26	26.61	20.7	16.5
60-64	20.68	37.74	17.0	13.5
65-69	32.66	54.20	13.6	10.8
70-74	53.52	80.75	10.5	8.4
75-79	85.31	119.99	8.0	6.4
80-84	132.82	176.66	5.9	4.9
85-89	201.36	252.95	4.4	3.6
90-94	288.66	345.51	3.2	2.8
95-99	397.94	455.97	2.4	2.2
100+	524.05	576.47	1.9	1.7

Mortality in Lesotho by year

Mortality in Lesotho, 1979

Year

Country