Global Health

Life Expectancy by Country: 2025 Global Rankings

Where you are born shapes how long you are likely to live — sometimes by decades. Drawing on the latest WHO and World Bank data, this article ranks every major nation by life expectancy, explores the lifestyle and policy factors that drive the widest gaps, and highlights what individuals can realistically do to tip the odds in their favour.

The Numbers at a Glance

Global life expectancy has climbed steadily over the past century, from around 47 years in 1950 to roughly 73 years today. But that headline figure masks enormous variation: the longest-lived populations outlast the shortest-lived by more than 30 years — a gulf that reflects not biology, but access to clean water, nutritious food, modern medicine, and economic security.

73.3

Global average life expectancy (years)

~5 yrs

Global gender gap — women outlive men

#40

United States ranking among all nations

Women outlive men in virtually every country on earth. The gender gap is widest in Russia (roughly 10 years) and narrowest in some South Asian and sub-Saharan African nations, where maternal mortality partially erases the female longevity advantage.

Top 20 Countries by Life Expectancy (2023–2024 Estimates)

The table below uses combined male-and-female averages from WHO and World Bank datasets. Small year-to-year fluctuations mean rankings can shift slightly, but the same cluster of countries has occupied the top tier for more than two decades.

#	Country	Region	Life Expectancy
1	Japan	East Asia	84.3
2	Switzerland	Western Europe	84.0
3	South Korea	East Asia	83.6
4	Singapore	Southeast Asia	83.5
5	Spain	Southern Europe	83.3
6	Australia	Oceania	83.2
7	Iceland	Northern Europe	83.1
8	Italy	Southern Europe	83.0
9	Norway	Northern Europe	83.0
10	Sweden	Northern Europe	82.6
11	Luxembourg	Western Europe	82.3
12	Israel	Middle East	82.1
13	France	Western Europe	82.0
14	Netherlands	Western Europe	81.8
15	Canada	North America	81.5
16	United Kingdom	Western Europe	81.1
17	Germany	Western Europe	81.0
18	New Zealand	Oceania	81.0
19	Ireland	Western Europe	81.0
20	Belgium	Western Europe	81.0

Note on data: Figures represent period life expectancy at birth — the average number of years a newborn would live if current age-specific mortality rates remained constant. Cohort life expectancy (which accounts for future improvements) is typically 3–5 years higher.

Countries with the Lowest Life Expectancy

The nations at the bottom of global rankings are almost uniformly in sub-Saharan Africa. Chronic conflict, extreme poverty, limited healthcare infrastructure, and high rates of infectious disease — particularly HIV/AIDS and malaria — compress lifespans by decades compared to high-income nations.

Country	Region	Life Expectancy	Primary Drivers
Chad	Central Africa	52.5	Conflict, malnutrition, malaria
Nigeria	West Africa	53.4	Infant mortality, HIV, poverty
Sierra Leone	West Africa	54.1	Maternal mortality, Ebola legacy
Central African Republic	Central Africa	54.3	Armed conflict, disease burden
Mali	West Africa	55.0	Malaria, food insecurity
South Sudan	East Africa	55.4	Civil war, displacement
Lesotho	Southern Africa	55.9	HIV/AIDS (highest rate globally)
Mozambique	Southern Africa	56.8	HIV, flooding, poverty
Guinea-Bissau	West Africa	57.1	Political instability, malaria
Eswatini	Southern Africa	57.7	HIV prevalence, TB co-infection

The 32-year gap: A child born today in Japan can expect to live roughly 32 years longer than one born in Chad. That difference is not genetic — it is structural. Research consistently shows that when sub-Saharan nations gain sustained access to clean water, vaccines, and basic primary care, life expectancy rises rapidly within a single generation.

What Do the World's Longest-Lived Populations Have in Common?

Researchers have studied Japan, Switzerland, Spain, and their Nordic neighbours for decades trying to isolate the ingredients of exceptional longevity. No single factor explains everything, but a consistent set of patterns emerges across all top-ranked countries.

Japan — diet and social cohesion. The traditional Japanese diet is rich in fish, fermented foods, vegetables, and green tea, while being low in red meat and saturated fat. Portion control is culturally ingrained (the practice of hara hachi bu — eating until 80% full — is common in Okinawa, home to one of the world's highest concentrations of centenarians). Strong community bonds and a sense of purpose (ikigai) are associated with lower stress and higher resilience into old age.

Mediterranean Europe — the diet and the lifestyle. Spain, Italy, and Greece consistently rank in the global top 10. The Mediterranean diet — olive oil, legumes, whole grains, abundant vegetables, moderate red wine, and fish — is one of the most extensively studied dietary patterns in longevity research. Combined with a culture of daily walking, long lunches, and strong family networks, these countries achieve high life expectancy even without the highest healthcare spending in Europe.

Nordic countries and universal healthcare. Norway, Sweden, and Iceland pair clean environments and active outdoor cultures with universal healthcare systems that catch disease early and treat it affordably. Low economic inequality (measured by Gini coefficient) is one of the strongest predictors of national longevity — societies where wealth is distributed more evenly tend to live longer at every income level.

Across all top-ranked countries, several structural factors repeat: universal or near-universal healthcare access, low obesity rates, high rates of non-smoking, active transportation (walking and cycling), and strong social safety nets that reduce chronic stress.

Countries in the top 20 average fewer than 18% of adults who are obese (vs. 42% in the US)
Smoking rates in Japan and top Nordic nations have fallen below 15% of adults
Infant mortality in top-ranked nations averages 2–3 per 1,000 live births (US: 5.4)
All top 20 countries provide some form of universal healthcare coverage

Why Does the United States Rank So Low Among Wealthy Nations?

The United States spends more on healthcare per capita than any other country in the world — nearly twice the OECD average — yet its life expectancy of approximately 76.4 years places it around 40th globally and well below every other high-income nation. Canada (81.5) and the UK (81.1) both outlive Americans by nearly 5 years despite spending substantially less on healthcare.

The US longevity gap is widening, not narrowing. In 1980, US life expectancy roughly matched its peers. By 2023 it trailed the OECD average by more than 4 years — a gap researchers attribute to several converging crises that began accelerating in the 1990s.

Public health researchers point to four overlapping causes:

Obesity epidemic: 42% of American adults are clinically obese, the highest rate among wealthy nations. Obesity drives cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers — the three leading causes of premature death in the US.
Opioid crisis: Drug overdose deaths surpassed 80,000 annually by 2022, driven first by prescription opioids and later by illicit fentanyl. No other high-income country has experienced a mortality shock of this scale from drug overdose.
Firearm mortality: The US gun death rate is 4–25 times higher than comparable nations, contributing materially to years of life lost, particularly among men aged 15–44.
Healthcare access gaps: Despite high total spending, roughly 25–30 million Americans remain uninsured, delaying care until conditions become acute and expensive to treat. Preventable hospitalizations are significantly higher in the US than in universal-coverage systems.

Regional variation within the US is dramatic. Life expectancy ranges from around 80 years in states like Hawaii and Minnesota to below 72 years in Mississippi and West Virginia — a spread that rivals the gap between France and Bangladesh. County-level data reveals even starker contrasts: some rural Appalachian and Mississippi Delta counties have life expectancies comparable to parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

What Can Individuals Actually Control?

National averages are shaped by policies and infrastructure that individuals cannot change overnight. But longevity research consistently finds that lifestyle factors account for a substantial share of the variation in lifespan — even within the same country and income bracket. Twin studies suggest that genetics explain only about 20–25% of how long someone lives; the rest is environment and behaviour.

The behaviours with the strongest and most consistent evidence for extending healthy lifespan are:

Not smoking — the single largest modifiable risk factor globally. Quitting before age 40 recovers roughly 90% of the mortality risk added by smoking.
Regular physical activity — 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic activity (brisk walking counts) is associated with 3–5 additional years of life compared to sedentary adults.
Diet quality — diets high in vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and fish and low in ultra-processed foods, red meat, and added sugars are consistently associated with lower all-cause mortality.
Maintaining a healthy weight — obesity at age 40 is associated with 5–7 fewer years of life expectancy.
Alcohol moderation — recent large studies suggest little to no "safe" level of alcohol for cancer risk; heavy drinking reduces life expectancy significantly.
Sleep — chronic short sleep (under 6 hours) is independently associated with increased cardiovascular mortality. Seven to eight hours is associated with the lowest all-cause mortality risk in most cohort studies.
Social connection — social isolation carries a mortality risk comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to a widely cited 2015 meta-analysis. Strong relationships predict survival across all age groups.
Preventive care — regular screening for blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose, and cancer catches conditions when they are still manageable. Uncontrolled hypertension alone shortens life expectancy by an estimated 5 years on average.

The compounding effect: Research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that adults who adopted all five low-risk lifestyle habits by age 50 — healthy diet, regular exercise, healthy weight, no smoking, and moderate alcohol — lived an average of 14 years longer than those with none of the habits. You do not need to be in Japan to benefit from what Japan does.

How Old Are You, Really?

Your biological age can diverge significantly from your calendar age. Find out exactly how many years, months, and days old you are — and use it as a starting point for thinking about your health timeline.

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