Life expectancy at birth in Northern America was 73.5 years in 1978: 77.3 for women and 69.7 for men, a gap of 7.6 years. 2,112,973 people died; 65.7% of them were 65 or older and 2.9% children under five. The most common age at death was 75-79. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1978

Life expectancy at birth

73.5

Women

77.3

Men

69.7

Life expectancy at 65

16.3

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

13.5

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

16.1

Deaths

2,112,973

Deaths per 1,000 people

8.5

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

197

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

104

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	12.09	15.15	77.3	69.7
1-4	0.58	0.76	77.3	69.8
5-9	0.28	0.39	73.4	66.0
10-14	0.24	0.43	68.5	61.1
15-19	0.54	1.41	63.6	56.3
20-24	0.64	1.96	58.8	51.6
25-29	0.69	1.81	54.0	47.1
30-34	0.85	1.86	49.1	42.5
35-39	1.28	2.50	44.3	37.9
40-44	2.11	3.74	39.6	33.3
45-49	3.32	5.98	35.0	28.9
50-54	5.11	9.76	30.5	24.7
55-59	7.48	14.75	26.3	20.8
60-64	11.56	23.44	22.2	17.2
65-69	16.69	34.13	18.3	14.0
70-74	27.11	52.41	14.7	11.2
75-79	42.61	74.58	11.5	8.8
80-84	72.62	114.07	8.6	6.7
85-89	120.04	168.40	6.3	5.0
90-94	191.91	241.40	4.5	3.8
95-99	288.28	333.78	3.2	2.9
100+	421.18	449.44	2.4	2.2

Mortality in Northern America by year

Mortality in Northern America, 1978

Year

Country