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

South Africa

1974

Life expectancy: 57.1

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

Year

-5 -1 1974 +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 57.1 years in 1974: 59.4 for women and 55.0 for men, a gap of 4.5 years. 282,790 people died; 21.7% of them were 65 or older and 37.8% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1974

Life expectancy at birth

57.1

Women

59.4

Men

55.0

Life expectancy at 65

13.0

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

80.4

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

115.3

Deaths

282,790

Deaths per 1,000 people

11.3

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

365

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

269

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1974's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1974

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	79.10	91.21	59.4	55.0
1-4	9.53	9.84	63.2	59.1
5-9	2.57	2.75	61.6	57.4
10-14	1.81	1.95	57.4	53.2
15-19	2.40	2.92	52.9	48.7
20-24	3.20	4.40	48.5	44.3
25-29	3.92	5.28	44.2	40.3
30-34	4.69	6.41	40.1	36.3
35-39	5.71	8.10	36.0	32.4
40-44	6.95	10.19	31.9	28.6
45-49	8.56	13.05	28.0	25.0
50-54	11.47	17.38	24.1	21.5
55-59	15.62	23.02	20.4	18.2
60-64	23.55	33.00	16.8	15.1
65-69	36.38	47.91	13.6	12.4
70-74	55.19	67.76	10.8	10.0
75-79	78.36	88.03	8.4	8.1
80-84	121.46	126.70	6.3	6.3
85-89	182.79	175.85	4.6	4.8
90-94	281.33	254.26	3.3	3.6
95-99	421.27	364.78	2.3	2.6
100+	573.79	493.10	1.7	2.0

Mortality in South Africa by year

Mortality in South Africa, 1974

Year

Country