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

South Africa

1997

Life expectancy: 60.5

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

Year

-5 -1 1997 +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 60.5 years in 1997: 63.7 for women and 57.2 for men, a gap of 6.4 years. 423,892 people died; 29.5% of them were 65 or older and 17.1% children under five. The most common age at death was 0-4. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1997

Life expectancy at birth

60.5

Women

63.7

Men

57.2

Life expectancy at 65

14.1

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

48.6

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

64.8

Deaths

423,892

Deaths per 1,000 people

9.3

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

422

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

283

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1997's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1997

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	46.25	54.77	63.7	57.2
1-4	4.19	4.43	65.6	59.4
5-9	1.20	1.41	62.7	56.4
10-14	0.84	1.06	58.1	51.8
15-19	1.61	2.12	53.3	47.1
20-24	3.32	3.92	48.7	42.5
25-29	5.10	6.33	44.5	38.3
30-34	6.12	8.80	40.6	34.5
35-39	6.86	11.17	36.7	30.9
40-44	7.74	13.33	32.9	27.5
45-49	9.21	16.41	29.1	24.3
50-54	11.53	20.79	25.4	21.1
55-59	14.94	26.73	21.7	18.1
60-64	21.48	35.06	18.2	15.4
65-69	31.22	46.78	15.0	12.9
70-74	45.01	62.22	12.1	10.6
75-79	63.88	81.05	9.6	8.6
80-84	99.48	117.40	7.2	6.7
85-89	149.83	162.94	5.4	5.1
90-94	231.98	236.08	3.8	3.8
95-99	351.74	339.81	2.7	2.8
100+	495.47	464.53	2.0	2.2

Mortality in South Africa by year

Mortality in South Africa, 1997

Year

Country