Life expectancy at birth in Nigeria was 36.5 years in 1956: 38.6 for women and 34.5 for men, a gap of 4.1 years. 1,123,805 people died; 10.5% of them were 65 or older and 54.3% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1956

Life expectancy at birth

36.5

Women

38.6

Men

34.5

Life expectancy at 65

10.4

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

158.6

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

326.6

Deaths

1,123,805

Deaths per 1,000 people

26.9

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

503

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

436

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1956's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1956

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	160.89	193.72	38.6	34.5
1-4	52.12	62.37	44.1	40.5
5-9	12.01	12.54	49.8	47.2
10-14	6.37	6.25	47.7	45.1
15-19	6.68	7.05	44.2	41.5
20-24	7.68	9.97	40.6	37.9
25-29	8.99	10.57	37.1	34.7
30-34	10.44	11.30	33.6	31.4
35-39	11.97	12.83	30.3	28.1
40-44	13.14	15.51	27.0	24.8
45-49	14.28	18.62	23.7	21.6
50-54	17.51	23.23	20.3	18.5
55-59	23.80	30.33	16.9	15.4
60-64	34.71	42.07	13.7	12.6
65-69	52.59	60.67	10.8	9.9
70-74	81.46	93.63	8.3	7.5
75-79	122.54	141.36	6.3	5.6
80-84	185.43	214.39	4.7	4.1
85-89	264.94	331.01	3.5	2.9
90-94	380.32	461.43	2.5	2.1
95-99	499.31	604.10	2.0	1.6
100+	624.45	742.50	1.6	1.4

Mortality in Nigeria by year

Mortality in Nigeria, 1956

Year

Country