Demographics

Visualizing the World’s Plummeting Fertility Rate

Published

8 months ago

April 10, 2023

Pallavi Rao

Graphics/Design:

Bhabna Banerjee

A line chart tracing the world's falling fertility rates to 2.3 in 2020 along with a heatmap of countries with higher (darker) or lower (lighter) fertility rates

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Visualizing the World’s Plummeting Fertility Rate

At the dawn of the 19th century, the world population hit a big milestone: 1 billion people.

Over the next 220 years, the number grew to eight times that, or the 8 billion people who live on the planet today, with half of the growth occurring since 1975.

This continuous climb in global population has been possible thanks to advancements in healthcare and nutrition. However, the UN forecasts that rapid growth will slow down—and may even stop entirely by 2100—because of falling fertility rates.

What does that mean for modern nation states conditioned to expect a constant influx of new citizens and labor to power their economies? And how can those changing economies adapt to a shrinking population?

To understand that, we need to first untangle fertility rates, and why they’re falling.

Explained: Fertility and Replacement Rates

The total fertility rate is the average number of births per woman over a lifetime. This measurement makes two key assumptions, however:

The woman will live to the end of her childbearing years
The woman will bear children according to the age-specific fertility rates currently observed

Both assumptions add some uncertainty to future fertility rate projections. However, decades of past data collected by the World Bank help show some overall trends around the world, and in many countries.

ℹ️ The age-specific fertility rate (ASFR) “measures the annual number of births to women of a specified age or age group per 1,000 women in that age group,” according to the UN.

The world fertility rate (expressed as the number of children per woman) has been falling steadily since the 1970s.

In 2020, the world’s fertility rate stood at 2.3, slightly above the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman, which allows for one generation to replace itself. This is down more than two times from 4.7 in 1960.

But the world’s average hides the vast disparities between the fertility rate of countries. We dive into the differences below.

Which Country has the Highest Fertility Rate?

According to the UN, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population lives in a region where the fertility rate is below the critical 2.1 threshold. In the table below, countries are ranked from the highest to lowest average births per woman in 2020.

Rank	Country Name	1960	1975	1990	2005	2020
1	Niger	7.53	7.54	7.81	7.62	6.89
2	Somalia	7.25	7.03	7.44	7.48	6.42
3	Chad	6.25	6.88	7.22	7.13	6.35
4	Dem. Rep. of Congo	6.08	6.42	6.70	6.60	6.21
5	Mali	7.00	7.24	7.25	6.72	6.04
6	Central African Republic	5.81	5.89	6.05	5.85	5.99
7	Angola	6.71	7.49	7.27	6.46	5.37
8	Nigeria	6.36	6.77	6.46	6.07	5.31
9	Burundi	7.00	7.24	7.37	6.71	5.18
10	Benin	6.28	6.85	6.73	5.68	5.05
11	Burkina Faso	6.25	6.91	7.01	6.18	4.87
12	Tanzania	6.73	7.00	6.20	5.61	4.80
13	Gambia	6.25	6.41	6.22	5.72	4.78
14	Afghanistan	7.28	7.54	7.57	6.91	4.75
15	Mozambique	6.32	6.69	6.22	5.61	4.71
16	Uganda	6.94	7.23	7.04	6.57	4.69
17	Cameroon	5.65	6.39	6.39	5.41	4.54
18	South Sudan	6.72	6.92	7.99	6.17	4.54
19	Sudan	6.65	6.93	6.17	5.04	4.54
20	Guinea	6.11	6.37	6.63	5.70	4.49
21	Cote d'Ivoire	7.69	7.91	6.73	5.46	4.47
22	Mauritania	6.35	6.68	6.06	5.19	4.46
23	Senegal	7.00	7.25	6.40	5.19	4.45
24	Zambia	7.12	7.39	6.53	5.71	4.38
25	Equatorial Guinea	5.65	5.79	5.99	5.56	4.35
26	Togo	6.72	7.15	6.13	5.07	4.32
27	Ethiopia	6.88	7.14	7.24	5.97	4.24
28	Rep. of Congo	6.09	6.36	5.21	4.66	4.23
29	Liberia	6.39	6.74	6.37	5.52	4.17
30	Guinea-Bissau	5.92	6.15	6.51	5.45	4.09
31	Sierra Leone	6.18	6.55	6.57	5.81	4.08
32	Comoros	6.79	7.12	6.50	5.03	4.05
33	Solomon Islands	6.97	7.07	5.66	4.48	4.04
34	Samoa	7.65	6.68	4.93	4.37	4.00
35	Malawi	7.03	7.40	6.81	5.91	4.00
36	Eritrea	6.48	6.59	6.34	4.93	3.93
37	Madagascar	7.30	7.10	6.16	5.10	3.92
38	Sao Tome & Principe	6.24	6.53	5.83	4.96	3.89
39	Yemen	7.94	8.40	8.61	5.58	3.89
40	Rwanda	8.19	8.22	6.87	5.44	3.87
41	Vanuatu	6.86	6.09	5.03	4.16	3.78
42	Ghana	6.85	6.77	5.71	4.54	3.62
43	West Bank & Gaza	NA	NA	6.78	4.84	3.57
44	Pakistan	6.80	6.81	6.36	4.64	3.56
45	Iraq	5.30	6.88	5.88	4.48	3.55
46	Gabon	4.42	5.39	5.46	4.21	3.55
47	Zimbabwe	7.22	6.98	4.87	3.67	3.55
48	Kenya	7.63	7.88	6.13	4.78	3.40
49	Namibia	6.21	6.54	5.32	3.56	3.35
50	Kiribati	6.55	5.03	4.64	3.80	3.33
51	Papua New Guinea	6.02	6.07	5.18	4.22	3.27
52	Tonga	6.89	5.43	4.64	4.18	3.27
53	Timor-Leste	6.32	5.19	5.81	5.71	3.25
54	Tajikistan	6.55	6.60	5.34	3.44	3.24
55	Tuvalu	4.78	3.50	3.91	3.63	3.19
56	Kazakhstan	4.53	3.39	2.72	2.22	3.13
57	Lesotho	5.82	5.90	4.76	3.44	3.05
58	Kyrgyzstan	5.38	4.66	3.63	2.50	3.00
59	Egypt	6.79	5.80	4.48	3.15	2.96
60	Algeria	7.50	7.37	4.56	2.56	2.94
61	Israel	3.87	3.55	2.82	2.84	2.90
62	Mongolia	6.83	7.13	4.23	2.03	2.90
63	Uzbekistan	6.61	5.89	4.07	2.36	2.90
64	Eswatini	6.75	6.75	5.25	3.68	2.89
65	Jordan	7.67	7.89	5.48	3.78	2.87
66	Haiti	6.21	5.69	5.48	3.83	2.87
67	Djibouti	6.83	6.77	5.98	3.99	2.85
68	Botswana	6.63	6.58	4.49	3.08	2.84
69	Syria	7.49	7.47	5.38	3.81	2.80
70	Philippines	7.15	5.60	4.35	3.49	2.78
71	Micronesia	6.69	6.68	4.96	3.60	2.75
72	Turkmenistan	6.59	5.90	4.24	2.66	2.70
73	Oman	7.25	7.75	6.61	3.05	2.69
74	Bolivia	6.36	5.79	4.89	3.56	2.65
75	Guam	5.91	3.91	3.05	2.76	2.59
76	Lao	6.29	6.29	6.08	3.67	2.54
77	Libya	7.37	7.96	4.97	2.77	2.51
78	Paraguay	6.50	5.21	4.55	3.04	2.50
79	Fiji	6.46	4.10	3.41	2.89	2.50
80	Guatemala	6.96	6.41	5.48	3.97	2.48
81	Saudi Arabia	7.63	7.37	5.83	3.24	2.47
82	Guyana	6.37	4.50	3.07	2.84	2.42
83	South Africa	6.16	5.19	3.72	2.51	2.40
84	Honduras	7.46	6.86	5.29	3.55	2.39
85	Cambodia	6.25	4.10	5.64	3.24	2.38
86	Suriname	6.61	4.73	3.27	2.75	2.37
87	Morocco	7.04	6.27	4.02	2.57	2.35
88	Nicaragua	7.16	6.50	4.60	2.77	2.35
89	Panama	5.84	4.42	3.10	2.67	2.34
90	Dominican Republic	7.56	5.24	3.41	2.61	2.30
91	Faroe Islands	NA	2.90	2.80	2.60	2.30
92	World	4.70	4.08	3.31	2.60	2.30
93	Seychelles	NA	NA	NA	2.20	2.29
94	Venezuela, RB	6.36	4.69	3.45	2.63	2.23
95	Peru	6.94	5.71	3.91	2.69	2.22
96	Indonesia	5.55	5.04	3.10	2.43	2.19
97	Myanmar	5.98	5.29	3.54	2.55	2.17
98	Kuwait	7.16	6.09	3.32	2.66	2.14
99	Tunisia	6.94	6.03	3.47	1.98	2.11
100	Lebanon	5.82	4.56	3.30	2.20	2.10
101	Nepal	6.03	5.75	5.21	3.14	2.06
102	Ecuador	6.72	5.43	3.74	2.80	2.05
103	India	5.92	5.20	4.05	2.96	2.05
104	New Caledonia	6.28	3.70	3.18	2.20	2.04
105	Virgin Islands	5.45	3.63	2.99	2.24	2.03
106	Grenada	6.74	4.02	3.49	2.34	2.02
107	Greenland	NA	2.35	2.44	2.38	2.02
108	Bangladesh	6.78	6.74	4.48	2.81	2.00
109	Sri Lanka	5.47	3.79	2.52	2.28	2.00
110	Belize	6.50	6.28	4.70	3.13	2.00
111	Georgia	2.94	2.53	2.31	1.61	1.97
112	Vietnam	6.28	5.64	3.60	1.96	1.96
113	Turkiye	6.38	5.07	3.13	2.22	1.92
114	Argentina	3.08	3.30	3.03	2.43	1.91
115	Cabo Verde	6.89	6.77	5.39	2.93	1.91
116	Mexico	6.76	5.79	3.45	2.50	1.91
117	Gibraltar	3.01	2.62	2.44	1.70	1.86
118	Bahrain	7.15	5.62	3.76	2.62	1.83
119	France	2.85	2.09	1.77	1.94	1.83
120	El Salvador	6.63	5.68	3.95	2.46	1.82
121	Malaysia	6.41	4.52	3.37	2.33	1.82
122	North Korea	3.57	3.05	2.35	1.96	1.82
123	Qatar	6.65	6.10	4.18	2.58	1.82
124	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	7.29	4.98	2.83	2.07	1.81
125	Brunei Darussalam	6.84	4.99	3.29	2.02	1.80
126	Moldova	3.33	2.53	2.39	1.53	1.77
127	Montenegro	3.50	2.40	1.94	1.69	1.75
128	Colombia	6.74	4.40	3.08	2.26	1.74
129	Iceland	4.29	2.65	2.30	2.05	1.72
130	Maldives	6.80	7.19	6.09	2.24	1.71
131	Czechia	2.09	2.43	1.90	1.29	1.71
132	Iran	7.30	6.01	4.86	1.78	1.71
133	French Polynesia	5.89	4.71	3.44	2.19	1.71
134	Azerbaijan	5.88	4.18	2.74	2.00	1.70
135	Denmark	2.57	1.92	1.67	1.80	1.67
136	Sweden	2.17	1.77	2.13	1.77	1.66
137	Brazil	6.06	4.42	2.91	1.97	1.65
138	U.S.	3.65	1.77	2.08	2.06	1.64
139	Trinidad and Tobago	5.35	3.24	2.38	1.68	1.63
140	Ireland	3.78	3.37	2.11	1.86	1.63
141	Barbados	4.33	2.39	1.74	1.79	1.63
142	New Zealand	4.24	2.33	2.18	1.97	1.61
143	Curacao	NA	NA	NA	NA	1.60
144	Romania	2.34	2.59	1.83	1.40	1.60
145	Slovenia	2.19	2.18	1.46	1.26	1.60
146	Australia	3.45	2.15	1.90	1.81	1.58
147	Estonia	1.98	2.04	2.05	1.52	1.58
148	Armenia	4.79	2.96	2.71	1.54	1.58
149	Slovak Republic	3.04	2.55	2.09	1.27	1.57
150	Antigua and Barbuda	4.60	2.77	2.25	1.83	1.57
151	Isle of Man	2.88	2.05	1.92	1.85	1.57
152	Bulgaria	2.31	2.23	1.82	1.37	1.56
153	United Kingdom	2.69	1.81	1.83	1.76	1.56
154	Hungary	2.02	2.35	1.87	1.31	1.56
155	Costa Rica	6.71	3.80	3.21	2.04	1.56
156	Belgium	2.54	1.74	1.62	1.76	1.55
157	Latvia	1.94	1.96	2.02	1.39	1.55
158	Netherlands	3.12	1.66	1.62	1.71	1.55
159	Chile	4.70	3.18	2.58	1.80	1.54
160	Germany	2.37	1.45	1.45	1.34	1.53
161	Kosovo	6.36	5.25	3.65	2.61	1.53
162	Russia	2.52	1.98	1.89	1.29	1.51
163	Cuba	4.13	2.85	1.80	1.47	1.50
164	Croatia	2.23	1.96	1.63	1.50	1.48
165	Lithuania	2.56	2.18	2.03	1.29	1.48
166	Norway	2.85	1.98	1.93	1.84	1.48
167	Serbia	NA	NA	NA	1.45	1.48
168	Uruguay	2.83	3.02	2.43	2.10	1.48
169	U.A.E	6.72	6.26	4.54	2.20	1.46
170	Switzerland	2.44	1.61	1.58	1.42	1.46
171	Austria	2.69	1.83	1.46	1.41	1.44
172	Mauritius	6.17	3.20	2.32	1.88	1.44
173	Bhutan	6.70	6.62	5.60	2.80	1.43
174	St. Lucia	6.97	5.46	3.40	1.68	1.41
175	Albania	6.46	4.52	2.90	1.80	1.40
176	Canada	3.81	1.82	1.83	1.57	1.40
177	Portugal	3.16	2.75	1.56	1.41	1.40
178	Bahamas	4.82	3.26	2.53	2.05	1.39
179	Belarus	2.67	2.17	1.91	1.25	1.38
180	Poland	2.98	2.27	2.06	1.24	1.38
181	Finland	2.72	1.68	1.78	1.80	1.37
182	Luxembourg	2.29	1.55	1.60	1.63	1.37
183	Bosnia & Herzegovina	3.91	2.36	1.79	1.20	1.36
184	Jamaica	5.58	4.50	2.85	2.06	1.36
185	Thailand	6.25	4.40	2.09	1.59	1.34
186	Greece	2.23	2.33	1.39	1.34	1.34
187	Japan	2.00	1.91	1.54	1.26	1.34
188	Cyprus	3.51	2.11	2.41	1.48	1.33
189	Aruba	4.82	2.51	2.30	1.78	1.33
190	Bermuda	NA	NA	NA	1.76	1.30
191	North Macedonia	3.97	2.59	2.19	1.50	1.30
192	China	4.45	3.57	2.51	1.62	1.28
193	Italy	2.40	2.17	1.33	1.34	1.24
194	Spain	2.86	2.77	1.36	1.33	1.23
195	Ukraine	2.24	2.02	1.85	1.21	1.22
196	Malta	3.62	2.27	2.02	1.38	1.13
197	Singapore	5.76	2.07	1.83	1.26	1.10
198	Macao SAR, China	4.93	1.60	1.74	0.83	1.07
199	British Virgin Islands	5.16	3.36	1.59	1.34	0.98
200	Puerto Rico	4.80	2.77	2.38	1.77	0.90
201	Hong Kong	5.07	2.67	1.27	0.96	0.87
202	South Korea	5.95	3.43	1.57	1.09	0.84

The African country of Niger currently has the highest fertility rate, at 6.9, which means on average, a woman in Niger will have seven children in her lifetime.

With the exception of Afghanistan (14th), all of the top 30 countries are found on the African continent. In fact, it’s estimated that Africa will add 2.5 billion new people by 2100, while most continents will actually flatline in terms of population growth.

At the bottom of the rankings, the country with the lowest fertility rate is South Korea, at 0.84.

Interestingly, many of the current most populous countries of the world—including China, India, and the U.S.—are all below replacement levels of fertility, with parts of Europe and North America having had persistently low fertility levels since the 1970s.

However, even the countries that currently have high fertility rates have seen a steep decline over the last 60 years. Why?

Why are Fertility Rates Falling All Over The World?

Declining fertility rates are a consequence of a confluence of many related factors, including (but not limited to):

Better access to contraception
Improving opportunities for women, outside of childbearing
Robust healthcare that lowers mortality rates of children

In the past, a larger number of children meant more chances of some making it to adulthood since infant mortality was so high. Women were also restricted to childbearing and rearing, and lacked access to contraception which led to increased—and sometimes unwanted—pregnancies.

Declining fertility rates are thus a triumph of improved socioeconomic development for many countries.

Consequences of Declining Fertility Rates

Although there are obvious issues with our large global population today, a different set of issues arise when fertility rates fall below replacement levels.

Dropping fertility rates can lead to shrinking populations and a higher ratio of the elderly to working adults—which will have unwanted economic consequences like increased healthcare costs and a reduced tax base.

Short-term solutions like immigration can help until populations are shrinking in every country. Longer-term solutions—reducing the cost of raising a child, and providing better support for families with children—are common strategies deployed to ward off demographic disaster.

The current crop of humanity has never had to contend with shrinking populations on a global scale. How will this reshape human livelihoods, priorities and expectations from life? We might soon find out.

Source: The World Bank.

Data note: The World Bank uses a number of sources to aggregate their data including the UN population division, Eurostat, and several national statistics programs. Data for some years is missing and has been marked as “NA.” Please visit their website for more information.

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Healthcare

Charted: Average Years Left to Live by Age

Visualizing the number of years left to live for Americans at every age, reveals the broader trends in American life expectancy.

Published

3 days ago

November 29, 2023

Pallavi Rao

Chart showing the average years left to live at every age for men and women.

How Many Years Do You Have Left to Live?

At the start of the 19th century, when there fewer than 1 billion humans on the earth, global life expectancy at birth stood at roughly 29 years.

This is a startlingly low figure—because life expectancy is a statistical projection of how many more years a person can expect to live, based on the mortality rates at the time. And since the infant mortality rate in particular was so high, life expectancies accurately summarized the low likelihood of many babies living to adulthood.

However, since the 1920s, life expectancy across all ages has improved leaps and bounds, thanks to rapid advancements in nutrition, healthcare, and sanitation.

We visualized the current American life expectancy by age and gender, using data from the Office of Social Security, which bases their current projections on 2020 mortality rates.

American Life Expectancy at Every Age

A key takeaway with life expectancy is that it increases as one gets older. This is easily seen in the table below, which lists the remaining years left to live at a given age for an American male and the projected life expectancy.

Age	Years Remaining (Men)	Life Expectancy (Men)
0	74.12	74.12
1	73.55	74.55
2	72.58	74.58
3	71.60	74.60
4	70.62	74.62
5	69.63	74.63
6	68.64	74.64
7	67.65	74.65
8	66.65	74.65
9	65.66	74.66
10	64.67	74.67
11	63.68	74.68
12	62.69	74.69
13	61.70	74.70
14	60.71	74.71
15	59.73	74.73
16	58.76	74.76
17	57.79	74.79
18	56.84	74.84
19	55.90	74.90
20	54.97	74.97
21	54.04	75.04
22	53.12	75.12
23	52.21	75.21
24	51.30	75.30
25	50.39	75.39
26	49.48	75.48
27	48.57	75.57
28	47.66	75.66
29	46.76	75.76
30	45.86	75.86
31	44.97	75.97
32	44.07	76.07
33	43.18	76.18
34	42.29	76.29
35	41.39	76.39
36	40.50	76.50
37	39.62	76.62
38	38.73	76.73
39	37.85	76.85
40	36.97	76.97
41	36.09	77.09
42	35.21	77.21
43	34.34	77.34
44	33.46	77.46
45	32.59	77.59
46	31.73	77.73
47	30.87	77.87
48	30.01	78.01
49	29.17	78.17
50	28.33	78.33
51	27.50	78.50
52	26.67	78.67
53	25.86	78.86
54	25.06	79.06
55	24.27	79.27
56	23.48	79.48
57	22.71	79.71
58	21.95	79.95
59	21.21	80.21
60	20.47	80.47
61	19.74	80.74
62	19.03	81.03
63	18.32	81.32
64	17.63	81.63
65	16.94	81.94
66	16.26	82.26
67	15.58	82.58
68	14.91	82.91
69	14.24	83.24
70	13.59	83.59
71	12.94	83.94
72	12.30	84.30
73	11.67	84.67
74	11.05	85.05
75	10.46	85.46
76	9.88	85.88
77	9.32	86.32
78	8.77	86.77
79	8.25	87.25
80	7.74	87.74
81	7.25	88.25
82	6.77	88.77
83	6.31	89.31
84	5.88	89.88
85	5.47	90.47
86	5.07	91.07
87	4.70	91.70
88	4.35	92.35
89	4.02	93.02
90	3.72	93.72
91	3.44	94.44
92	3.18	95.18
93	2.96	95.96
94	2.75	96.75
95	2.57	97.57
96	2.42	98.42
97	2.28	99.28
98	2.15	100.15
99	2.04	101.04
100	1.93	101.93
101	1.83	102.83
102	1.73	103.73
103	1.63	104.63
104	1.54	105.54
105	1.45	106.45
106	1.36	107.36
107	1.27	108.27
108	1.18	109.18
109	1.10	110.10
110	1.02	111.02
111	0.95	111.95
112	0.88	112.88
113	0.82	113.82
114	0.76	114.76
115	0.70	115.70
116	0.65	116.65
117	0.60	117.60
118	0.56	118.56
119	0.52	119.52
120	0.48	120.48

At birth, an average American baby boy can expect to live till just past 74. But if the boy reaches adulthood, then at 21 he might live to a full year more, past 75. This trend persists even towards the end of life when the years we have left drop rapidly, influenced by the higher likelihood of death.

American women, on the other hand, have a higher life expectancy than men. At birth the gap is close to six years, narrowing steadily to around one year by 85.

Age	Years Remaining (Women)	Life Expectancy (Women)
0	79.78	79.78
1	79.17	80.17
2	78.19	80.19
3	77.21	80.21
4	76.22	80.22
5	75.23	80.23
6	74.24	80.24
7	73.25	80.25
8	72.25	80.25
9	71.26	80.26
10	70.27	80.27
11	69.27	80.27
12	68.28	80.28
13	67.29	80.29
14	66.30	80.30
15	65.31	80.31
16	64.32	80.32
17	63.34	80.34
18	62.36	80.36
19	61.38	80.38
20	60.41	80.41
21	59.44	80.44
22	58.47	80.47
23	57.50	80.50
24	56.54	80.54
25	55.58	80.58
26	54.61	80.61
27	53.66	80.66
28	52.70	80.70
29	51.74	80.74
30	50.79	80.79
31	49.84	80.84
32	48.89	80.89
33	47.94	80.94
34	47.00	81.00
35	46.06	81.06
36	45.12	81.12
37	44.18	81.18
38	43.24	81.24
39	42.31	81.31
40	41.38	81.38
41	40.45	81.45
42	39.52	81.52
43	38.60	81.60
44	37.68	81.68
45	36.76	81.76
46	35.85	81.85
47	34.94	81.94
48	34.04	82.04
49	33.14	82.14
50	32.24	82.24
51	31.35	82.35
52	30.47	82.47
53	29.59	82.59
54	28.72	82.72
55	27.86	82.86
56	27.01	83.01
57	26.16	83.16
58	25.32	83.32
59	24.49	83.49
60	23.67	83.67
61	22.85	83.85
62	22.04	84.04
63	21.24	84.24
64	20.45	84.45
65	19.66	84.66
66	18.88	84.88
67	18.10	85.10
68	17.34	85.34
69	16.58	85.58
70	15.82	85.82
71	15.08	86.08
72	14.36	86.36
73	13.64	86.64
74	12.94	86.94
75	12.26	87.26
76	11.60	87.60
77	10.95	87.95
78	10.31	88.31
79	9.70	88.70
80	9.10	89.10
81	8.53	89.53
82	7.98	89.98
83	7.44	90.44
84	6.93	90.93
85	6.44	91.44
86	5.99	91.99
87	5.55	92.55
88	5.15	93.15
89	4.76	93.76
90	4.41	94.41
91	4.08	95.08
92	3.78	95.78
93	3.51	96.51
94	3.27	97.27
95	3.05	98.05
96	2.85	98.85
97	2.68	99.68
98	2.52	100.52
99	2.37	101.37
100	2.23	102.23
101	2.09	103.09
102	1.96	103.96
103	1.84	104.84
104	1.72	105.72
105	1.61	106.61
106	1.51	107.51
107	1.41	108.41
108	1.32	109.32
109	1.24	110.24
110	1.16	111.16
111	1.09	112.09
112	1.02	113.02
113	0.96	113.96
114	0.90	114.90
115	0.85	115.85
116	0.80	116.80
117	0.75	117.75
118	0.70	118.70
119	0.66	119.66
120	0.62	120.62

Interestingly, women outlive men in nearly every country in the world, due to a mix of sociological, behavioral, and biological reasons.

COVID-19: Reversing A Decade of Increasing American Life Expectancy

While the current American life expectancy at birth seems reasonably high, it is nearly two years lower than the 2022 figure which used the 2019 mortality rate. It is also lower than the life expectancy at birth in 2009, which used 2005 mortality rate.

Year	Life Expectancy at Birth (Men)	Life Expectancy at Birth (Women)
2009	74.12	79.95
2014	76.10	80.94
2019	76.04	80.99
2023	74.12	79.78

American mortality rates went up 17% between 2019–2020, in part because of COVID-19, in turn affecting life expectancy. The U.S. also had a higher COVID-19 mortality rate compared to its peers two years after the pandemic first struck.

Thus, American life expectancy may not improve immediately to 2019 levels, which can affect insurance premiums, pension benefits, and plans.

Where Does This Data Come From?

Source: Office of Social Security, U.S. Government.

Note: The life expectancy at a given age is the average remaining number of years expected prior to death for a person at that exact age, born on January 1, using the mortality rates for 2020 over the course of their remaining life.