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

Behind every statistic on MYRIAD lies the profound weight of human existence, measured in the fundamental currency of time. For Botswana, life expectancy at birth captures how many years a newborn could expect to live, given the mortality of the time and place. This metric shapes the very architecture of a human life, dictating the horizon of dreams, family raising, and the passage of generations across three centuries.

The historical arc of survival reveals a slow, then accelerating, accumulation of years. In the 1800s estimate it was 27, creeping upward decade by decade through the 1810s estimate 27.1, the 1820s estimate 27.2, the 1830s estimate 27.3, the 1840s estimate 27.4, the 1850s estimate 27.5, the 1860s estimate 27.6, the 1870s estimate 27.7, the 1880s estimate 27.8, and the 1890s estimate 27.9. By 1900 it was 28 years, continuing through the 1900s estimate 28, the 1910s estimate 29.6, the 1920s estimate 31.2, the 1930s estimate 32.8, the 1940s estimate 34.4, the 1950s 36, the 1960s 40, the 1970s 44, the 1980s 48, the 1990s 49, and the 2000s 50.

For someone born in the 2010s 56, the landscape shifted again, leading directly to where in the 2020s, life expectancy at birth in Botswana stands at 62 years — ranking #122 of 157 countries. Looking ahead, the trajectory points toward the 2030s projection 63.2, the 2040s projection 64.4, the 2050s projection 65.6, the 2060s projection 66.8, the 2070s projection 68, the 2080s projection 69.2, the 2090s projection 70.4, and the 2100s projection 71.6. Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →