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Demographics · Africa ranking

Life Expectancy by African country

76.7 yearsTunisia leads · 2024

Tunisia has the highest life expectancy at birth of any African country, at 76.7 years, ahead of Algeria and Seychelles.

Life expectancy at birth, in years. 54 of 54 countries, ranked · World Bank — World Development Indicators, 2024.

1Tunisia76.7 years2Algeria76.5 years3Seychelles76.3 years
#1 vs #541.4×Tunisia vs Nigeria
Median65.7 yearsGhana
Lowest54.6 yearsNigeria

By region

regional average
North Africa73 years
6 countries · led by Tunisia
East Africa66.4 years
16 countries · led by Seychelles
Southern Africa65 years
7 countries · led by Botswana
West Africa63.7 years
16 countries · led by Cabo Verde
Central Africa63.6 years
9 countries · led by Sao Tome and Principe

Full ranking

54 of 54 countries
#CountryLife ExpectancyPeriod
1Tunisia
76.7 years2024
2Algeria
76.5 years2024
3Seychelles
76.3 years2024
4Cabo Verde
76.2 years2024
5Morocco
75.5 years2024
6Mauritius
73.8 years2024
7Egypt
71.8 years2024
8Libya
71.1 years2024
9Sao Tome and Principe
69.9 years2024
10Botswana
69.3 years2024
11Senegal
68.9 years2024
12Eritrea
68.9 years2024
13Mauritania
68.7 years2024
14Gabon
68.5 years2024
15Uganda
68.5 years2024
16Rwanda
68 years2024
17Ethiopia
67.6 years2024
18Malawi
67.6 years2024
19Namibia
67.5 years2024
20Tanzania
67.2 years2024
21Comoros
67 years2024
22Zambia
66.5 years2024
23Sudan
66.5 years2024
24South Africa
66.3 years2024
25Djibouti
66.2 years2024
26Gambia
66.1 years2024
27Republic of the Congo
66 years2024
28Ghana
65.7 years2024
29Angola
64.8 years2024
30Eswatini
64.3 years2024
31Guinea-Bissau
64.3 years2024
32Cameroon
64 years2024
33Equatorial Guinea
63.9 years2024
34Madagascar
63.8 years2024
35Kenya
63.8 years2024
36Burundi
63.8 years2024
37Mozambique
63.8 years2024
38Zimbabwe
63.1 years2024
39Togo
62.9 years2024
40Liberia
62.3 years2024
41Cote d'Ivoire
62.1 years2024
42Democratic Republic of the Congo
62.1 years2024
43Sierra Leone
62 years2024
44Niger
61.4 years2024
45Burkina Faso
61.3 years2024
46Benin
61 years2024
47Guinea
60.9 years2024
48Mali
60.7 years2024
49Somalia
59 years2024
50Lesotho
57.8 years2024
51South Sudan
57.7 years2024
52Central African Republic
57.7 years2024
53Chad
55.2 years2024
54Nigeria
54.6 years2024

Get this ranking via API

GET /v1/data

One call to /v1/data returns the latest Life Expectancy figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.

curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=life_expectancy_years&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"
Get a free API key

Cite or republish this ranking

Data: Africa API — World Bank — World Development Indicators, 2024. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.

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Frequently asked questions

Which African country has the highest life expectancy at birth?

Tunisia has the highest life expectancy at birth in Africa at 76.7 years (2024), followed by Algeria and Seychelles.

Which African country has the lowest life expectancy at birth?

Nigeria has the lowest life expectancy at birth of the 54 African countries with data, at 54.6 years (2024).

How many African countries report Life Expectancy data?

54 of 54 African countries have a Life Expectancy figure in the Africa API, each from the latest year available for that country (which can differ between countries). Every value links to its full series with source and history.

How do I get this ranking via API?

Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=life_expectancy_years&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.

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