Who dies: share of all deaths, by age and sex

South Africa

1953

Life expectancy: 46.1

Life expectancy at birth, 1950–2100 · click to pick a year

Year

-5 -1 1953 +1 +5

Country

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Life expectancy at birth in South Africa was 46.1 years in 1953: 47.4 for women and 44.9 for men, a gap of 2.5 years. 263,912 people died; 17.4% of them were 65 or older and 43.0% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1953

Life expectancy at birth

46.1

Women

47.4

Men

44.9

Life expectancy at 65

11.6

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

126.4

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

204.5

Deaths

263,912

Deaths per 1,000 people

19.0

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

468

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

403

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1953's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1953

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	130.77	146.50	47.4	44.9
1-4	23.78	23.52	52.8	50.7
5-9	5.81	5.86	53.8	51.5
10-14	3.80	3.72	50.4	48.0
15-19	4.65	4.86	46.3	43.8
20-24	6.34	7.29	42.3	39.9
25-29	7.91	8.72	38.6	36.2
30-34	9.15	10.31	35.0	32.7
35-39	10.52	12.46	31.6	29.3
40-44	11.86	14.72	28.1	26.1
45-49	13.44	17.60	24.7	22.9
50-54	17.00	22.11	21.2	19.7
55-59	22.10	27.80	17.9	16.7
60-64	32.40	38.78	14.7	13.9
65-69	47.95	55.47	11.8	11.3
70-74	69.70	78.16	9.3	9.1
75-79	98.79	101.53	7.2	7.3
80-84	153.07	145.97	5.3	5.7
85-89	230.13	202.63	3.9	4.3
90-94	351.32	291.76	2.7	3.2
95-99	517.84	415.62	1.9	2.3
100+	676.27	550.03	1.5	1.8

Mortality in South Africa by year

Mortality in South Africa, 1953

Year

Country