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

Life expectancy at birth measures how many years a newborn could expect to live, given the mortality of the time and place. Every value here is a statistical fact about the lives actually lived there. Behind these figures lie generations of human experience, tracking the fundamental transformation of human survival across three centuries.

In the 1800s estimate, life expectancy sat at 29.99 years, inching upward through the 1810s estimate at 30.23, the 1820s estimate at 30.48, the 1830s estimate at 30.73, the 1840s estimate at 30.97, the 1850s estimate at 31.22, the 1860s estimate at 31.46, the 1870s estimate at 31.71, the 1880s estimate at 31.96, the 1890s estimate at 32.2, and the 1900s estimate at 32.45. Momentum accelerated through the decades: the 1910s estimate reached 35.49, the 1920s estimate 38.54, the 1930s estimate 41.58, the 1940s estimate 44.63, the 1950s 47.67, the 1960s 55.01, the 1970s 62.35, the 1980s 69.68, the 1990s 73.35, the 2000s 77.01, and the 2010s 80.21.

In the 2020s, life expectancy at birth in South Korea stands at 83.4 years, ranking #3 of 157 countries. Looking forward, projections anticipate the 2030s projection at 84.6, the 2040s projection at 85.8, the 2050s projection at 87, the 2060s projection at 88.2, the 2070s projection at 89.4, the 2080s projection at 90.6, the 2090s projection at 91.8, and the 2100s projection at 92. For comparison, in 1900 it was 32.45 years. Where do you rank among everyone ever born?