Life Expectancy by Country — Global Comparison
Life expectancy at birth for 12 major economies from 2000 to 2022, sourced from World Bank data (SP.DYN.LE00.IN). Captures the COVID-19 dip of 2020–2021, the subsequent recovery, and persistent cross-country gaps in longevity.
Data
| Year | US | UK | Germany | France | Japan | China | India | Brazil | S. Korea | Australia | Mexico | Turkey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 78.9 | 81.4 | 81.2 | 83 | 84 | 78 | 72.2 | 76 | 83.6 | 83.1 | 75.3 | 79 |
| 2023 | 78.4 | 81.2 | 81.1 | 83 | 84 | 78 | 72 | 75.8 | 83.4 | 83.1 | 75.1 | 77.3 |
| 2022 | 77.4 | 81 | 80.7 | 82.3 | 84 | 78.2 | 71.7 | 74.9 | 82.7 | 83.2 | 74 | 76.3 |
| 2021 | 76.3 | 80.6 | 80.8 | 82.4 | 84.4 | 78.1 | 67.3 | 73 | 83.5 | 83.3 | 69.8 | |
| 2020 | 77 | 80.3 | 81.1 | 82.3 | 84.6 | 78 | 70.2 | 74.5 | 83.4 | 83.2 | 70.4 | |
| 2019 | 78.8 | 81.4 | 81.3 | 83 | 84.4 | 77.9 | 70.7 | 75.8 | 83.2 | 82.9 | 74.5 | 79.1 |
| 2018 | 78.6 | 81.3 | 81 | 82.8 | 84.2 | 77.7 | 70.4 | 75.6 | 82.6 | 82.7 | 74.3 | 78.9 |
| 2017 | 78.5 | 81.3 | 81.1 | 82.7 | 84.1 | 77.2 | 70.1 | 75.4 | 82.6 | 82.5 | 74.3 | 78.5 |
| 2016 | 78.5 | 81.2 | 81 | 82.7 | 84 | 77.2 | 69.7 | 75.1 | 82.3 | 82.4 | 74.4 | 78.1 |
| 2015 | 78.7 | 81 | 80.7 | 82.4 | 83.8 | 77 | 69.3 | 75.1 | 82 | 82.4 | 74.4 | 78.2 |
| 2014 | 78.8 | 81.3 | 81.2 | 82.9 | 83.6 | 76.7 | 68.9 | 74.8 | 81.7 | 82.3 | 74.4 | 78.1 |
| 2013 | 78.7 | 81 | 80.6 | 82.4 | 83.3 | 76.5 | 68.5 | 74.6 | 81.3 | 82.1 | 74.3 | 78.2 |
| 2012 | 78.7 | 80.9 | 80.7 | 82.1 | 83.1 | 76.2 | 68.1 | 74.3 | 80.8 | 82 | 74.1 | 77.6 |
| 2011 | 78.6 | 81 | 80.6 | 82.3 | 82.6 | 75.9 | 67.6 | 74 | 80.6 | 81.9 | 73.9 | 77.1 |
| 2010 | 78.5 | 80.4 | 80.5 | 81.8 | 82.8 | 75.7 | 67.2 | 73.8 | 80.1 | 81.7 | 73.7 | 76.8 |
| 2009 | 78.4 | 80.1 | 80.3 | 81.5 | 82.9 | 75.3 | 66.7 | 73.5 | 80 | 81.5 | 73.6 | 76 |
| 2008 | 78 | 79.6 | 80.2 | 81.4 | 82.6 | 74.8 | 66.2 | 73.1 | 79.5 | 81.4 | 73.7 | |
| 2007 | 78 | 79.4 | 80.1 | 81.3 | 82.5 | 74.8 | 65.8 | 72.7 | 79.1 | 81.3 | 73.8 | |
| 2006 | 77.7 | 79.2 | 79.9 | 80.9 | 82.3 | 74.4 | 65.4 | 72.3 | 78.7 | 81 | 73.7 | |
| 2005 | 77.5 | 79 | 79.4 | 80.3 | 82 | 74.1 | 64.9 | 71.8 | 78.2 | 80.8 | 73.6 |
About this Analysis
This page tracks life expectancy at birth across 12 major economies using World Bank data (SP.DYN.LE00.IN), drawn from national vital statistics and UN population estimates. The chart shows the group average from 2000 onward. The table shows each economy from 2005 to the most recently published year.
The gap between the highest and lowest economies in this group spans roughly 16 years — Japan at ~83 years, India at ~67. That gap has narrowed steadily since 1990 as India and China made large gains, but it has not closed. The 2020–2021 COVID dip is visible in the data for most economies; the US saw a sharper drop than peers, reflecting both pandemic mortality and structural factors including the opioid crisis.
The 2021 decline is independently corroborated by several major sources. The WHO confirmed in May 2024 that global life expectancy fell 1.8 years between 2019 and 2021 — the largest drop since World War II, erasing a decade of progress. CDC provisional data shows the US decline was the worst two-year fall since 1921–1923. A 2022 Nature Human Behaviour study tracking 29 countries found that Eastern Europe and the US continued declining in 2021 even as western European countries began to recover — consistent with what the country-level data here shows for Germany and France versus the US.