Life expectancy of the world’s countries 2025

Overview: what life expectancy at birth means

Life expectancy at birth is a period measure. It estimates how many years a newborn would live if the mortality pattern observed in the reference year stayed the same throughout life. It does not predict the exact lifespan of a baby born today.

The ranking is useful because it compresses mortality conditions across age groups into one comparable number. Infant survival, adult mortality, disease burden, conflict exposure, road safety, nutrition, income, public health capacity, environmental conditions and access to medical care can all affect the result.

The table follows the World Bank reporting universe, so it includes countries and economies. That is why entries such as Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Puerto Rico and other territories appear alongside sovereign states.

Top 10 countries and economies by life expectancy

The leading group is concentrated among small high-income economies, European microstates, East Asian economies and Gulf high-income economies. The first three entries all exceed 85 years in the WDI 2024 estimate series.

Top 10 by life expectancy at birth, World Bank WDI 2024 estimate

Ranking is calculated from the raw numeric WDI 2024 value in descending order. Values are displayed to one decimal year.

Why countries differ in life expectancy

Life expectancy differs because mortality risk is not evenly distributed across places or age groups. Countries with low infant mortality, safer childbirth, broader vaccination, better control of infectious diseases and stronger emergency care usually perform better on this metric.

Adult mortality also matters. Chronic diseases, smoking, alcohol harm, obesity, road injuries, workplace risk, violence, conflict, air pollution and access to timely treatment can move a country up or down even when income levels look similar.

Small economies and territories should be read carefully. Their results can reflect high income, strong health systems or selective migration, but small populations can also make comparisons with large countries less straightforward.

Methodology

The metric is World Bank WDI indicator SP.DYN.LE00.IN: life expectancy at birth, total, measured in years. The ranking uses the 2024 WDI value as the latest source year for the 2025 page. Higher values rank higher.

Formula: rank order is calculated by sorting the raw WDI 2024 value from highest to lowest. Display rounding is one decimal year. The page does not create a 2025 or 2026 estimate and does not average WDI with other demographic sources.

WDI limitation: life expectancy at birth is a period estimate. Some WDI life-expectancy series draw on UN Population Division World Population Prospects annual series, which can be interpolated from five-year period data; this means short-term shocks may be less visible than in directly observed vital-registration data.

Metric limitation: life expectancy is not a direct measure of healthcare quality alone. It does not show healthy life expectancy, inequality within a country, male-female gaps, infant survival separately, regional differences, disease burden, disability-adjusted life years or future mortality shocks.

Main ranking: Top 100 countries and economies by life expectancy

Search for a country or economy, filter by World Bank region, change the sort order or switch between Top 10, Top 20 and all 100 entries.

No matching entries in this Top 100 table. Try a different country, economy, region or display limit.

Top 100 by life expectancy at birth, World Bank WDI 2024 estimate

Source snapshot: World Bank Data360 WDI CSV for indicator SP.DYN.LE00.IN, extracted June 30, 2026. Values are ranked with raw WDI numbers and displayed to one decimal year.

Insights from the Top 100 life expectancy ranking

What this ranking means for readers

Read the ranking as a comparable mortality snapshot, not as a prediction for babies born in 2025 or 2026. A WDI 2024 value of 84.0 years means the period mortality pattern in that economy corresponds to an average lifespan of about 84 years if those rates remained unchanged.

The difference between a published WDI value and a future projection matters. This page uses the WDI 2024 source year only. It does not extend trends into 2025 or 2026, because that would require assumptions about mortality, migration, pandemics, conflict, healthcare performance and age structure.

Interpretation risk is highest when readers compare small territories with large countries or treat life expectancy as a single cause-and-effect measure. The indicator is broad and useful, but it cannot identify why a country ranks where it does without supporting health, income, mortality and demographic data.

FAQ

Sources