Life expectancy at birth in Nigeria was 45.3 years in 1978: 46.9 for women and 43.8 for men, a gap of 3.0 years. 1,394,858 people died; 12.4% of them were 65 or older and 52.5% 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

45.3

Women

46.9

Men

43.8

Life expectancy at 65

11.6

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

125.1

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

224.5

Deaths

1,394,858

Deaths per 1,000 people

20.1

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

419

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

362

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	125.99	146.84	46.9	43.8
1-4	29.48	31.48	52.0	49.6
5-9	8.76	8.98	54.3	51.9
10-14	4.70	4.61	51.6	49.2
15-19	5.07	5.45	47.8	45.3
20-24	5.92	7.72	43.9	41.5
25-29	6.93	8.17	40.2	38.0
30-34	7.98	8.73	36.5	34.5
35-39	9.12	9.85	32.9	30.9
40-44	10.25	11.90	29.3	27.3
45-49	11.27	14.31	25.7	23.9
50-54	14.17	18.35	22.0	20.4
55-59	19.19	23.96	18.5	17.2
60-64	28.27	33.92	15.1	14.0
65-69	43.37	49.64	12.0	11.1
70-74	67.81	76.63	9.3	8.6
75-79	103.69	117.03	7.0	6.4
80-84	159.50	179.22	5.2	4.7
85-89	232.80	268.65	3.9	3.4
90-94	341.69	401.90	2.8	2.4
95-99	459.06	541.11	2.1	1.8
100+	591.72	681.11	1.7	1.5

Mortality in Nigeria by year

Mortality in Nigeria, 1978

Year

Country