Life expectancy at birth in Papua New Guinea was 56.5 years in 1978: 59.1 for women and 54.6 for men, a gap of 4.5 years. 29,322 people died; 9.2% of them were 65 or older and 44.2% 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

56.5

Women

59.1

Men

54.6

Life expectancy at 65

11.4

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

81.3

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

111.4

Deaths

29,322

Deaths per 1,000 people

9.8

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

360

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

266

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	79.82	92.30	59.1	54.6
1-4	8.43	8.25	62.9	58.7
5-9	2.58	2.85	61.0	56.7
10-14	1.79	1.96	56.8	52.4
15-19	2.65	3.45	52.3	47.9
20-24	3.29	5.03	47.9	43.7
25-29	3.76	5.09	43.7	39.8
30-34	4.43	5.63	39.5	35.7
35-39	5.39	6.96	35.3	31.7
40-44	6.64	9.07	31.2	27.7
45-49	8.34	12.28	27.2	23.9
50-54	11.34	17.20	23.2	20.2
55-59	15.84	24.27	19.4	16.8
60-64	24.42	36.21	15.8	13.6
65-69	38.06	53.42	12.5	10.8
70-74	62.87	80.97	9.6	8.4
75-79	100.08	121.16	7.2	6.4
80-84	153.43	178.95	5.4	4.8
85-89	226.13	257.40	4.0	3.6
90-94	314.38	350.50	3.0	2.7
95-99	429.10	469.15	2.3	2.1
100+	555.65	594.99	1.8	1.7

Mortality in Papua New Guinea by year

Mortality in Papua New Guinea, 1978

Year

Country