Life expectancy at birth in United Kingdom was 73.0 years in 1978: 76.1 for women and 69.9 for men, a gap of 6.1 years. 669,703 people died; 75.5% of them were 65 or older and 1.6% children under five. The most common age at death was 75-79. Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects 2024.

Key indicators, 1978

Life expectancy at birth

73.0

Women

76.1

Men

69.9

Life expectancy at 65

14.8

Infant deaths per 1,000 births

13.6

Under-5 deaths per 1,000 births

15.9

Deaths

669,703

Deaths per 1,000 people

11.9

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

168

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

102

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	12.12	15.36	76.1	69.9
1-4	0.55	0.63	76.0	70.0
5-9	0.23	0.34	72.2	66.2
10-14	0.22	0.30	67.2	61.3
15-19	0.38	0.92	62.3	56.4
20-24	0.42	1.01	57.4	51.6
25-29	0.51	0.92	52.5	46.9
30-34	0.68	1.05	47.7	42.1
35-39	1.10	1.65	42.8	37.3
40-44	1.88	2.62	38.0	32.6
45-49	3.13	4.93	33.4	28.0
50-54	5.32	8.96	28.9	23.6
55-59	8.03	14.78	24.6	19.6
60-64	12.37	24.41	20.5	15.9
65-69	19.83	39.28	16.6	12.6
70-74	32.47	62.54	13.1	9.8
75-79	55.50	97.74	9.9	7.4
80-84	94.81	143.93	7.3	5.6
85-89	155.65	211.03	5.2	4.2
90-94	239.60	299.86	3.8	3.1
95-99	352.06	407.62	2.7	2.4
100+	490.12	530.42	2.0	1.9

Mortality in United Kingdom by year

Mortality in United Kingdom, 1978

Year

Country