Life Expectancy at Birth in Afghanistan: 1800 to Today (and Tomorrow)

Welcome to MYRIAD, where we examine the statistics of human lives. How many years a newborn could expect to live, given the mortality of the time and place, tells a profound story of human existence. In Afghanistan, the numbers trace a winding path across three centuries, where every value is a statistical fact about the lives actually lived there. Behind these figures lie generations of families experiencing the fundamental weight of history, measured not in grand epochs, but in the quiet accumulation of days.

The long arc begins in the 1800s estimate of 25 years. Through the decades that followed, life expectancy shifted only fractionally, recording values like the 1810s estimate of 24.9, the 1840s estimate of 24.6, and the 1890s estimate of 24.1, eventually reaching 24 years in the 1900s estimate. From there, a gradual ascent took hold, moving upward through the 1910s estimate of 26.4, the 1920s estimate of 28.8, the 1930s estimate of 31.2, the 1940s estimate of 33.6, and decades like the 1950s at 36, the 1960s at 42, the 1970s at 48, the 1980s at 54, the 1990s at 58, the 2000s at 62, and the 2010s at 66.

Today, in the 2020s, life expectancy at birth in Afghanistan stands at 70 years — ranking #113 of 157 countries. Looking ahead, projections trace a continued path forward through the 2030s projection of 71.2, the 2040s projection of 72.4, the 2050s projection of 73.6, the 2060s projection of 74.8, the 2070s projection of 76, the 2080s projection of 77.2, the 2090s projection of 78.4, and the 2100s projection of 79.6. For someone born across these shifting eras, the horizon of a lifetime expanded dramatically. Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →