Life Expectancy Gaps
Global life expectancy at birth recovered to 73.4 years in 2025 after the COVID-era reversal. But the gap between the longest-lived country (Hong Kong, 85.9) and the shortest (Chad, 53.0) remains 33 years. Women outlive men by 5.4 years globally; within countries, the rich routinely outlive the poor by 7–15 years.
Key insights
Top-to-bottom gap narrowing slowly
The longest-lived populations sit in East Asia (Hong Kong 85.9, Japan 84.3, Singapore 83.6, South Korea 83.5) and Mediterranean Europe (Switzerland 83.9, Spain 83.7, Italy 83.5). At the bottom are conflict-affected sub-Saharan states — Chad 53.0, Central African Republic 53.9, Lesotho 54.6, Nigeria 55.7. The gap was 41 years in 1990; it has narrowed by 8 years.
Women outlive men everywhere
Female life expectancy exceeds male in every country with reliable data. The gap is smallest in South Asia (India: 2.7 years) and largest in Russia (10.7 years) and several other post-Soviet states, driven by male alcohol mortality, cardiovascular disease and accidents. In OECD countries the gap averages 5.2 years.
Within-country gaps rival between-country gaps
A 2016 JAMA study found a 14.6-year life-expectancy gap between the richest and poorest 1% of US adult men. Marmot reviews in the UK find a 9-year gap between the most and least deprived deciles. These intra-country gaps are widening in the US and UK and narrowing in much of continental Europe.
Life expectancy — highest and lowest countries (2025)
Years at birth, both sexes combined
Key Finding: East Asia and Mediterranean Europe occupy the top; conflict-affected sub-Saharan states sit at the bottom.
Female-male life expectancy gap — selected countries
Years (female minus male)
Key Finding: Post-Soviet states show the widest sex gap; South Asia the narrowest.
Methodology & caveats
Period vs cohort
Period life expectancy applies the current year's age-specific death rates to a hypothetical cohort. Cohort life expectancy follows an actual birth cohort across its life. Period figures dominate official reporting because they are timely; cohort figures are inherently retrospective and run 80+ years behind.
Healthy life expectancy (HALE)
HALE adjusts life expectancy for years lived with disability. Globally HALE is 63.7 years versus life expectancy of 73.4 — about 13% of life is now lived in some state of ill health. The HALE-to-LE ratio is fairly stable across countries; longer lives bring proportionally more years of disability.
COVID-era reversal
Global life expectancy fell from 73.1 (2019) to 71.3 (2021) before partly recovering. The US fell 2.7 years and is one of few high-income countries that has not fully reverted to pre-pandemic levels — drug-overdose deaths and cardiovascular mortality account for most of the residual gap.