Life Expectancy by Country, Historical Data 1960-2023

About This Dataset

Life expectancy at birth in twelve countries plus the world average, at seven points from 1960 to 2023, using World Bank data. The 2019, 2021 and 2023 columns are included deliberately, so the pandemic drop and the recovery that followed are both visible rather than averaged away.

✨ AI Insight

China shows the largest gain of any country here, from 33.4 years in 1960 - a figure depressed by the famine of those years - to 78.0 in 2023, a rise of 44.6 years. Japan remains the highest at 84.0. The 2021 column is the clearest evidence of the pandemic in this dataset: India fell from 70.7 in 2019 to 67.3, Mexico from 74.5 to 69.8, and the United States from 78.8 to 76.3. By 2023 ten of the thirteen series had recovered to at or above their 2019 level; three had not - Japan and the United States are both 0.4 years below it and Germany 0.3 below. Russia has the smallest long-run gain of the group, 5.8 years across 63 years, reaching 73.3 in 2023 from 67.5 in 1960.

Source: World Bank Open Data

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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Japan leads with 84 in 2023.

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China grew fastest: +133.5% from 1960 to 2023 (33.40 → 78).

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Average value in 2023: 74 · median: 75.

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2023 recorded the highest combined total across all categories.

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Gap in 2023: Japan is 1.5× larger than Nigeria.