Life expectancy at birth in Lesotho was 52.0 years in 1998: 55.0 for women and 49.1 for men, a gap of 5.9 years. 27,529 people died; 25.8% of them were 65 or older and 22.4% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1998

Life expectancy at birth

52.0

Women

55.0

Men

49.1

Life expectancy at 65

11.7

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

80.2

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

104.3

Deaths

27,529

Deaths per 1,000 people

13.8

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

552

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

422

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1998's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1998

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	77.30	92.61	55.0	49.1
1-4	6.35	6.94	58.4	52.8
5-9	1.88	2.22	55.8	50.2
10-14	1.59	1.88	51.3	45.7
15-19	2.78	3.54	46.7	41.2
20-24	4.55	6.25	42.4	36.8
25-29	6.64	8.98	38.3	32.9
30-34	8.75	12.27	34.5	29.3
35-39	11.17	16.38	30.9	26.0
40-44	13.41	20.35	27.5	23.0
45-49	16.25	24.88	24.3	20.2
50-54	20.30	30.49	21.1	17.6
55-59	25.70	37.27	18.1	15.0
60-64	35.10	49.46	15.2	12.6
65-69	47.85	64.44	12.7	10.5
70-74	62.46	84.34	10.4	8.5
75-79	82.40	113.49	8.3	6.8
80-84	117.77	161.01	6.4	5.2
85-89	184.34	232.94	4.7	3.9
90-94	271.61	323.87	3.4	2.9
95-99	383.36	432.51	2.5	2.3
100+	515.62	555.03	1.9	1.8

Mortality in Lesotho by year

Mortality in Lesotho, 1998

Year

Country