Life Expectancy at Birth by Country — Every Decade Since 1800

A single number defines the horizon of a human life. Life expectancy at birth is more than a statistic; it is how many years a newborn could expect to live, given the mortality of the time and place. It represents the invisible boundary between a childhood interrupted and a life fully realized. While some experience a world of longevity, others face a starkly different reality, where the probability of reaching old age is a privilege of geography and era.

Since 1800, the trajectory of human survival has shifted fundamentally. The table and chart below track every country MYRIAD covers, decade by decade — and every row links to what that number meant for a real life born there. This historical arc reveals a world transforming from a fragile existence into one of unprecedented endurance. We see the slow climb of global health, where the distance between the highest and lowest survival rates reflects the uneven distribution of human progress.

Today, the gap remains profound. As of the 2020s, life expectancy at birth ranges from 84.6 years in Japan to 54.7 years in Nigeria across 157 countries. To be born in Japan 84.6 or Singapore 83.9 is to inherit a different version of time than one born in Nigeria 54.7. From the median in Ecuador 75 to the bottom of the ranking including Sierra Leone 62, these figures determine the scale of a lifetime.

Discover where you rank among everyone ever born by computing your own parallel lives on MYRIAD.