Life expectancy at birth in United Kingdom was 72.2 years in 1971: 75.3 for women and 69.0 for men, a gap of 6.3 years. 647,871 people died; 71.5% of them were 65 or older and 2.8% children under five. The most common age at death was 75-79. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1971

Life expectancy at birth

72.2

Women

75.3

Men

69.0

Life expectancy at 65

14.5

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

17.8

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

20.6

Deaths

647,871

Deaths per 1,000 people

11.6

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

176

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

105

Life expectancy is a period measure: how long a newborn would live if 1971's death rates at each age stayed the same for their whole life.

Death rate by age, 1971

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	15.66	20.45	75.3	69.0
1-4	0.64	0.78	75.5	69.5
5-9	0.28	0.44	71.7	65.7
10-14	0.24	0.38	66.8	60.8
15-19	0.38	0.92	61.9	55.9
20-24	0.41	0.98	57.0	51.2
25-29	0.50	0.90	52.1	46.4
30-34	0.74	1.11	47.2	41.6
35-39	1.17	1.68	42.4	36.8
40-44	2.05	3.03	37.6	32.1
45-49	3.52	5.44	33.0	27.6
50-54	5.38	9.26	28.5	23.2
55-59	8.10	15.38	24.2	19.2
60-64	12.51	25.81	20.1	15.5
65-69	20.13	42.09	16.3	12.3
70-74	34.87	65.66	12.7	9.6
75-79	59.60	97.73	9.6	7.4
80-84	98.92	144.76	7.1	5.6
85-89	161.03	212.47	5.1	4.2
90-94	245.61	304.82	3.7	3.1
95-99	356.86	411.79	2.7	2.4
100+	492.64	535.33	2.0	1.9

Mortality in United Kingdom by year

Mortality in United Kingdom, 1971

Year

Country