Queen Nwabueze
Just recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) commended African countries for the significant improvements recorded in Africa life expectancy rates between 2000 and 2019.
In case you missed that story, let’s quickly bring you up to speed – a new report by the WHO said the average life expectancy in Africa increased from 46 to 56 years, representing an addition of 10 years.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThis notwithstanding, many African countries still have a long way to go towards improving their life expectancy rates. Despite the improvement, the average life expectancy rate in Africa is far below those of other continents. Part of the report said:
“However, it still shows inequities, with healthy life highest in countries with better economies. The improvement is fastest in large population countries and those with high population densities. Additionally, the levels of healthy life in the Region are still very low compared to other regions.”
According to the World Bank, life expectancy is based on actuarial data looking at the average number of years a person is expected to live “if mortality patterns at the time of its birth remain constant in the future.” In other words, it is a statistical prediction which considers several individual-level and population-level factors.
Here are 15 African countries with the highest life expectancy rates according to Statista.
- Algeria: Has a life expectancy of 77 years.
- Morocco: Has a life expectancy of 74 years.
- Cabo Verse: Has a life expectancy of 74 years.
- Tunisia: Has a life expectancy of 74 years.
- Mauritius: Has a life expectancy of 73 years.
- Libya: Has a life expectancy of 72 years.
- Seychelles: Has a life expectancy of 71 years.
- Egypt: Has a life expectancy of 70 years.
- Sao Tome & Principe: Has a life expectancy of 68 years.
- Senegal: Has a life expectancy of 67 years.
- Rwanda: Has a life expectancy of 67 years.
- Tanzania: Has a life expectancy of 66 years.
- Eritrea: Has a life expectancy of 66 years.
- Botswana: Has a life expectancy of 65 years.
- Gabon: Has a life expectancy of 65 years.
Statista is a German company specializing in market and consumer data.
According to the company, its platform contains more than 1,000,000 statistics on more than 80,000 topics from more than 22,500 sources and 170 different industries, and generates a revenue of about €60 million.
