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

South Africa

1987

Life expectancy: 62.7

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

Year

-5 -1 1987 +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 62.7 years in 1987: 66.2 for women and 59.5 for men, a gap of 6.7 years. 316,825 people died; 29.4% of them were 65 or older and 26.9% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1987

Life expectancy at birth

62.7

Women

66.2

Men

59.5

Life expectancy at 65

13.7

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

51.7

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

69.5

Deaths

316,825

Deaths per 1,000 people

8.5

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

338

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

205

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1987's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1987

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	48.71	58.97	66.2	59.5
1-4	4.52	4.95	68.5	62.1
5-9	1.30	1.55	65.7	59.3
10-14	0.96	1.24	61.1	54.7
15-19	1.39	2.17	56.4	50.1
20-24	1.86	3.38	51.8	45.6
25-29	2.30	4.20	47.2	41.3
30-34	2.87	5.30	42.7	37.1
35-39	3.73	6.96	38.3	33.1
40-44	4.91	9.13	34.0	29.1
45-49	6.53	12.17	29.8	25.4
50-54	9.22	16.61	25.7	21.8
55-59	13.04	22.49	21.8	18.5
60-64	20.02	32.36	18.0	15.4
65-69	31.27	46.62	14.7	12.6
70-74	47.72	65.19	11.7	10.3
75-79	67.80	84.68	9.2	8.3
80-84	105.22	122.02	7.0	6.5
85-89	158.46	169.39	5.1	5.0
90-94	244.99	245.24	3.7	3.7
95-99	370.25	352.44	2.6	2.7
100+	516.77	479.16	1.9	2.1

Mortality in South Africa by year

Mortality in South Africa, 1987

Year

Country