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

South Africa

1985

Life expectancy: 62.2

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

Year

-5 -1 1985 +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 62.2 years in 1985: 65.5 for women and 59.2 for men, a gap of 6.2 years. 306,174 people died; 28.3% of them were 65 or older and 28.9% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1985

Life expectancy at birth

62.2

Women

65.5

Men

59.2

Life expectancy at 65

13.7

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

55.5

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

75.1

Deaths

306,174

Deaths per 1,000 people

8.7

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

334

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

211

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1985's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1985

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	52.54	63.26	65.5	59.2
1-4	5.02	5.48	67.9	62.0
5-9	1.45	1.68	65.3	59.4
10-14	1.06	1.31	60.7	54.8
15-19	1.52	2.27	56.1	50.2
20-24	2.02	3.53	51.5	45.7
25-29	2.47	4.29	47.0	41.5
30-34	3.06	5.31	42.5	37.3
35-39	3.92	6.87	38.1	33.3
40-44	5.09	8.93	33.8	29.3
45-49	6.69	11.85	29.6	25.6
50-54	9.37	16.18	25.6	22.0
55-59	13.18	21.93	21.7	18.6
60-64	20.20	31.67	18.0	15.5
65-69	31.59	46.00	14.6	12.7
70-74	48.31	64.82	11.6	10.3
75-79	68.64	84.17	9.2	8.4
80-84	106.50	121.23	6.9	6.5
85-89	160.35	168.29	5.1	5.0
90-94	247.80	243.69	3.6	3.7
95-99	374.32	350.33	2.6	2.7
100+	521.30	476.67	1.9	2.1

Mortality in South Africa by year

Mortality in South Africa, 1985

Year

Country