Life expectancy by country: where people live longest (2024)

Among countries of 10 million people or more, Sweden, Italy and Japan live longest, at about 84 years at birth by the World Bank’s 2024 figures. Americans can expect 78.9, which puts the US 20th of 95, below Canada, the UK and every big country in Western Europe. Much of the gap is Americans who die young.

Why do people expect Americans to live longest?

Because the US spends the most on health care, by far. In 2024 it spent about $14,775 a person on health, against $7,860 on average in comparable rich countries, or 17.2% of its economy against 11.2%. But people in those countries could expect 82.7 years on average that year, 3.7 more than Americans.

A picture from daily life

Think of a class of 30 where everyone scores 85 on a test. One zero pulls the class average down further than ten students slipping to 80. Life expectancy at birth works the same way. A death at 30 takes about 50 years off the total, and a death at 85 takes a few, so a country where more people die young ends up with a lower average.

Which countries live longest?

Counting every place, Monaco (86.5), San Marino (85.8) and Hong Kong (85.4) top the list. They’re small and rich, so the chart below sticks to countries of 10 million people or more.

Women outlive men in every country on the list, by about 5 years on average. In Japan, women can expect 87.1 years and men 81.1. In the US it’s 81.4 and 76.5. Why do women live longer than men? has the reasons.

The ten countries with the most people run from 78.9 in the US down to 54.6 in Nigeria, the lowest figure of any country. China, at 78.0, is now within a year of the US.

Why do Americans die sooner?

In 2013 a panel of the US National Research Council and Institute of Medicine compared the US with 16 other rich countries. Americans did worse in nine areas, from babies’ health at birth, injuries and murders to drug deaths, obesity and diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and disability in old age. Deaths before 50 made up about two thirds of the gap for men and about a third for women.

A 2023 study counted the “missing Americans”, the deaths there wouldn’t have been if the US had the average death rates of 21 other rich countries. In 2019, before the pandemic, there were 622,534 of them. From 2000 to 2019 the extra deaths under 65 grew because of drug overdoses, alcohol, suicide, and heart and metabolic disease.

The gap is closing a little. It shrank from 4.1 years in 2023 to 3.7 in 2024, as US death rates from COVID-19, drug overdoses and some chronic diseases fell.

Is the gap inside the US bigger?

Yes. In 2022, people in Hawaii could expect 80.0 years and people in West Virginia 72.2. That 7.8 year gap between two states is bigger than the gap between the US and Japan. What actually kills people, decade by decade? has the causes behind the American numbers, age by age.

What does it mean for you?

Your habits move your number more than your passport does. In 123,219 US health professionals followed for up to 34 years, women with five healthy habits at 50 could expect about 14 more years than women with none, and men about 12. Smokers lost more than 10 years.

And because so much of the American gap is people dying young, the fixes that take ten minutes go right at it. A seat belt cuts the risk of dying in a crash by 45% in the front seat of a car. The simple plan has those next to the habits, in ten steps, and are you afraid of the right things? has the real odds.

Every country, 2024

Life expectancy at birth, every country and territory, 2024

Why do the numbers differ between sources?

The UN, the World Bank, the OECD and each country’s own statistics office can differ by a few tenths of a year, because they use different years and methods. This page uses the World Bank’s 2024 figures for every country, so they compare fairly. The CDC’s own figure for the US in 2024 is 79.0, and the World Bank’s is 78.9.

Your turn

How long do people my age live? has the US numbers for every age, with the odds of reaching 80, 90 and 100. Your own estimate shows what your habits add to them.