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

South Africa

1978

Life expectancy: 59.0

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

Year

-5 -1 1978 +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 59.0 years in 1978: 61.6 for women and 56.6 for men, a gap of 4.9 years. 283,388 people died; 24.1% of them were 65 or older and 34.7% 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

59.0

Women

61.6

Men

56.6

Life expectancy at 65

13.3

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

72.3

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

101.7

Deaths

283,388

Deaths per 1,000 people

10.2

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

348

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

247

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	70.27	82.20	61.6	56.6
1-4	7.86	8.29	65.0	60.4
5-9	2.16	2.36	63.0	58.4
10-14	1.53	1.72	58.6	54.0
15-19	2.07	2.66	54.1	49.5
20-24	2.75	4.00	49.6	45.1
25-29	3.36	4.79	45.3	41.0
30-34	4.05	5.83	41.0	36.9
35-39	5.01	7.43	36.8	32.9
40-44	6.22	9.47	32.6	29.1
45-49	7.82	12.30	28.6	25.3
50-54	10.64	16.59	24.6	21.8
55-59	14.65	22.23	20.8	18.5
60-64	22.25	32.06	17.2	15.3
65-69	34.53	46.74	13.9	12.5
70-74	52.55	66.20	11.1	10.2
75-79	74.62	85.99	8.7	8.3
80-84	115.71	123.77	6.5	6.4
85-89	174.17	171.79	4.8	4.9
90-94	268.48	248.55	3.4	3.7
95-99	403.59	357.01	2.4	2.7
100+	554.29	484.31	1.8	2.1

Mortality in South Africa by year

Mortality in South Africa, 1978

Year

Country