Life Expectancy Trends: What Drives Longer Lives in 2025

by StatRanker April 29, 2025 3131 41 min read

Life expectancy at birth is a period-life-table snapshot: the expected age at death if the year’s age-specific mortality rates stayed constant. Latest broadly comparable country values are available for 2023 in World Bank/UN series, so this is used as a practical 2025 snapshot.

World (2023): ~73 years • World Bank / UN-based series

What drives longer lives in 2025

The long-run story is steady global progress: by 2023, the world average life expectancy had risen to about 73 years, more than double early-20th-century levels. In the latest comparable rankings, the leading economies cluster in the mid-80s, reflecting low premature mortality, strong prevention, and high survival at older ages.

73.0

World average life expectancy (years, 2023 baseline)

85.25

Top value (Hong Kong SAR, China — years, 2023)

Source basis for the country ranking below: World Bank Group (WDI life expectancy at birth, total), as summarized in a 2023 table compiled from the underlying series; the dataset excludes very small-population microstates in some versions.

Top 10 economies by life expectancy (2023 data used as 2025 snapshot)

#1 — Hong Kong SAR, China • 85.25 years

Very low premature mortality, strong screening and chronic-disease management, high survival at older ages.

#2 — French Polynesia • 84.07 years

Small-population dynamics plus broad access to healthcare; outcomes are sensitive to year-to-year volatility.

#3 — Switzerland • 84.06 years

High-quality care, low pollution exposure, strong cardiovascular outcomes and safety nets.

#4 — Japan • 84.04 years

Population-wide prevention, diet patterns, and sustained reductions in stroke/heart-disease mortality.

#5 — Andorra • 84.04 years

High income, low violent-death burden, and access to advanced care through integrated systems.

#6 — Spain • 83.88 years

Strong primary care, high life expectancy at older ages, and relatively low cardiovascular mortality.

#7 — Italy • 83.70 years

Older-age survival plus prevention and diet patterns; regional gaps still matter.

#8 — Malta • 83.51 years

Small-country advantages and broad access to services; outcomes can swing more than in large states.

#9 — South Korea • 83.43 years

Fast mortality transition and strong health-system coverage; continuing gains at older ages.

#10 — Luxembourg • 83.36 years

High income and access; longevity reflects low avoidable mortality and strong social protection.

Rank	Country / territory	Life expectancy (years)
1	Hong Kong SAR, China	85.25
2	French Polynesia	84.07
3	Switzerland	84.06
4	Japan	84.04
5	Andorra	84.04
6	Spain	83.88
7	Italy	83.70
8	Malta	83.51
9	South Korea	83.43
10	Luxembourg	83.36

The values above are World Bank Group estimates for 2023 (life expectancy at birth, total). They are commonly used for cross-country comparisons, but they are a period snapshot and do not predict the lifespan of a specific birth cohort.

Bar chart: Top 20 economies by life expectancy (2023)

Years at birth (period life expectancy). Higher is longer expected lifespan.

Chart.js

Chart preview (Top 20, years): Hong Kong SAR, China 85.25; French Polynesia 84.07; Switzerland 84.06; Japan 84.04; Andorra 84.04; Spain 83.88; Italy 83.70; Malta 83.51; South Korea 83.43; Luxembourg 83.36; Sweden 83.31; Israel 83.20; Kuwait 83.19; Macao SAR, China 83.18; Faroe Islands 83.14; Norway 83.11; Australia 83.05; New Zealand 83.00; France 82.93; United Arab Emirates 82.91.

Methodology (how the 2025 snapshot is built)

This page treats 2023 as the latest widely comparable country-year for life expectancy at birth and uses it as a practical proxy for a 2025 “current snapshot”. Life expectancy at birth is derived from period life tables using age-specific mortality rates; it summarizes the overall mortality level in a given year and is not a forecast of an individual’s lifespan. Country rankings use World Bank Group life expectancy at birth (total) estimates and are shown in years, rounded to two decimals where available.

Interpretation limits: small territories can show more year-to-year volatility; the metric is sensitive to shocks (pandemics, heatwaves, conflict) and to revisions when source death-registration systems are updated.

Insights (what stands out in the 2025 landscape)

Top outcomes cluster tightly. In the top tier, differences are often measured in months, not decades—because premature mortality is already low and gains come mainly from older-age survival.
Recovery is uneven. Some places are already above 2019 life expectancy levels, while others remain below—showing how COVID-era losses and subsequent rebounds vary by system capacity and risk profiles.
Longevity is increasingly about chronic disease. As infectious and childhood mortality fall, the next increments come from preventing and delaying cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes, and dementia—and from safer environments.

What this means for readers

Life expectancy is not a personal guarantee, but it is a powerful way to compare how well societies reduce avoidable death across the whole age distribution. For relocation, it often signals how safe roads are, how preventable disease is managed, and how reliable primary care is. For investors and planners, it correlates with labor-force health, eldercare demand, and the long-run cost structure of healthcare and pensions.

FAQ

Why is Hong Kong SAR, China at the top?

Top-ranked economies typically combine very low premature mortality with strong survival at older ages. Small differences at the top often reflect how well systems manage cardiovascular risks, cancers, and preventable deaths, plus how safe everyday environments are.

Is “life expectancy at birth” a forecast for a newborn?

Not exactly. It’s a period snapshot: it assumes the mortality pattern observed in a given year remains constant. If mortality improves in the future, actual cohort lifespans can exceed the period estimate.

Why do small territories appear near the top?

Territories with small populations can rank highly, but their estimates can also swing more from year to year. Rankings are best read together with longer-run trends and confidence in underlying death-registration coverage.

What explains slow progress in some rich countries?

Once child mortality is low, further gains require reducing deaths at older ages and cutting “external causes” (injuries, overdoses, violence). Obesity, smoking history, air pollution, and unequal access to prevention also shape outcomes.

How should I compare countries with similar values?

When values differ by only 0.1–0.3 years, treat the ordering as a tight cluster. Look at multi-year averages, recovery vs 2019, and complementary indicators like healthy life expectancy (HALE), adult mortality, and amenable mortality.

What is “recovery vs 2019” in the table?

It measures how the 2023 life expectancy compares with the 2019 level (in years). Positive values indicate the place is above its pre-pandemic level; negative values indicate it is still below.

Next: Interactive Top Table + Scatter → Back to Top 10 ↑

Interactive table: highest life expectancy economies (World Bank estimates, 2023)

Controls: search, sort (level vs recovery), region/income filters, top cut, and a unit toggle. “Recovery vs 2019” shows how far 2023 is above/below the 2019 level (years).

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Sort: Region: Income group:

Top: Units:

Rank	Country / territory	Life expectancy	Recovery vs 2019
1	Hong Kong SAR, China	85.25 years	+0.09 years
2	French Polynesia	84.07 years	+0.88 years
3	Switzerland	84.06 years	+0.15 years
4	Japan	84.04 years	−0.32 years
5	Andorra	84.04 years	−0.06 years
6	Spain	83.88 years	+0.05 years
7	Italy	83.70 years	+0.20 years
8	Malta	83.51 years	+0.85 years
9	South Korea	83.43 years	+0.20 years
10	Luxembourg	83.36 years	+0.72 years
11	Sweden	83.31 years	+0.20 years
12	Israel	83.20 years	+0.39 years
13	Kuwait	83.19 years	+1.22 years
14	Macao SAR, China	83.18 years	−0.75 years
15	Faroe Islands	83.14 years	+0.70 years
16	Norway	83.11 years	+0.15 years
17	Australia	83.05 years	+0.15 years
18	New Zealand	83.00 years	+0.95 years
19	France	82.93 years	+0.10 years
20	United Arab Emirates	82.91 years	+0.31 years
21	Singapore	82.90 years	−0.70 years
22	Ireland	82.86 years	+0.16 years
23	Iceland	82.61 years	−0.56 years
24	Belgium	82.40 years	+0.40 years
25	Qatar	82.37 years	−0.58 years
26	Bermuda	82.31 years	+1.06 years
27	Portugal	82.28 years	+0.60 years
28	Slovenia	81.98 years	+0.45 years
29	Netherlands	81.91 years	−0.20 years
30	Denmark	81.85 years	+0.40 years
31	Puerto Rico	81.69 years	+0.25 years
32	Finland	81.69 years	−0.30 years
33	Cyprus	81.65 years	+0.19 years
34	Canada	81.65 years	−0.52 years
35	Austria	81.54 years	−0.35 years
36	Greece	81.54 years	−0.10 years
37	Bahrain	81.28 years	+0.81 years
38	United Kingdom	81.24 years	−0.13 years
39	Chile	81.17 years	+0.84 years
40	Channel Islands	81.10 years	−0.10 years
41	Maldives	81.04 years	+1.33 years
42	Isle of Man	81.00 years	+0.26 years
43	Costa Rica	80.80 years	+0.50 years
44	Germany	80.54 years	−0.75 years
45	Virgin Islands (U.S.)	80.52 years	+0.85 years
46	Cayman Islands	80.36 years	+1.31 years
47	Oman	80.03 years	+0.09 years
48	Czech Republic	79.88 years	+0.65 years
49	Albania	79.60 years	+0.14 years
50	Panama	79.59 years	+1.08 years
51	Northern Mariana Islands	78.81 years	+0.96 years
52	New Caledonia	78.77 years	+1.50 years
53	Saudi Arabia	78.73 years	+0.42 years

World benchmark used for “Share of world (%)”: 73.0 years (approx world average life expectancy in 2023).

Scatter: level vs recovery (2023 life expectancy vs 2019→2023 change)

Reading tip: points far right have high longevity; points higher on the chart recovered more strongly above 2019 levels by 2023.

Chart unavailable. Use the table above: sort by “Recovery vs 2019” to see the biggest rebounds, or by “Life expectancy” to see the highest levels.

Next: Interpretation + Sources → Back to overview ↑

How to interpret life expectancy rankings in 2025

Life expectancy compresses a country’s age-specific death rates into a single number. That makes it excellent for big-picture comparison, but it also means two places can share a similar life expectancy for very different reasons—one might have higher infant mortality but better older-age survival, while another has the reverse. For readers, the safest interpretation is: higher life expectancy usually signals lower avoidable mortality—from preventable disease, injuries, and treatable conditions—across the full lifespan.

At the top of the table, gaps are small because child mortality is already low and the remaining gains depend on difficult-to-move risks: cardiovascular prevention, cancers, dementia, and safe, healthy aging.

Policy takeaways (what tends to move the needle)

Primary care + prevention: early detection and long-term management (blood pressure, diabetes, lipids) is often the biggest lever once infectious disease is controlled.
Safety systems: road safety, workplace standards, and violence/overdose prevention can materially shift mortality in working-age groups.
Clean environments: air quality and heat resilience matter more as populations age and climate risks intensify.
Equity: life expectancy is highly sensitive to uneven access to care and to the concentration of “external causes” in vulnerable groups.
Healthy aging capacity: vaccination for older adults, fall prevention, and integrated long-term care support survival in the 70+ range where most deaths occur in high-longevity countries.

What to pair with life expectancy for a fuller picture

Healthy life expectancy (HALE): years expected in full health.
Adult mortality & premature mortality (e.g., 30–70): how much death is happening before older ages.
Cause-of-death profile: how much is driven by cardiovascular disease, cancers, injuries, infectious disease, and maternal/child conditions.

The goal is not simply “more years”, but more healthy years—so HALE and avoidable mortality measures help interpret whether longevity comes with disability compression or not.

Sources (official & widely used)

Data note: the interactive ranking in Parts 1–2 uses World Bank Group 2023 estimates for cross-country comparability and includes a “recovery vs 2019” field shown in the same table view.

Back to interactive table ↑ Back to overview ↑