Life expectancy at birth, total in Zambia
Zambia: Life expectancy at birth, total was 66.53 years in 2024. ▲ Rising
Life expectancy at birth, total in Zambia, 1960–2024
Source: World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN). Measured in years.
Analysis
Zambia recorded 66.53 years for life expectancy at birth, total in 2024. That is the highest value across all 65 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.3% on the previous year and up 10.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, life expectancy at birth, total in Zambia peaked at 66.53 years in 2024 and was at its lowest, 45.71 years, in 1998.
That places Zambia 179th out of 215 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 65 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 51.84 years | 50.65 years | 53.04 years | 10 |
| 1970s | 55.25 years | 53.4 years | 56.34 years | 10 |
| 1980s | 52.35 years | 48.88 years | 55.5 years | 10 |
| 1990s | 46.48 years | 45.71 years | 48.2 years | 10 |
| 2000s | 51.14 years | 46.58 years | 55.89 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 60.15 years | 56.9 years | 62.91 years | 10 |
| 2020s | 64.78 years | 62.36 years | 66.53 years | 5 |
Countries ranked near Zambia
- 176 Marshall Islands 67.08 years compare
- 177 Comoros 67.02 years compare
- 178 Kiribati 66.6 years compare
- 180 Sudan 66.52 years compare
- 181 South Africa 66.31 years compare
- 182 Afghanistan 66.29 years compare
More health data for Zambia
- Age population, age 08, male, interpolated 290,979 (2025)
- Population, male 49.5% (2025)
- Age population, age 06, female, interpolated 302,089 (2025)
- Age population, age 06, male, interpolated 301,939 (2025)
- Population ages 15-64, female 6.31 million (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, total 8.98 million (2025)
- Age population, age 07, female, interpolated 296,231 (2025)
- Age population, age 07, male, interpolated 296,034 (2025)
- Age population, age 08, female, interpolated 291,211 (2025)
- Age population, age 11, male, interpolated 279,125 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is life expectancy at birth, total in Zambia?
- Life expectancy at birth, total in Zambia was 66.53 years in 2024, according to World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest life expectancy at birth, total recorded in Zambia?
- The highest recorded value was 66.53 years in 2024.
- What is the lowest life expectancy at birth, total recorded in Zambia?
- The lowest recorded value was 45.71 years in 1998.
- How does Zambia rank for life expectancy at birth, total?
- Zambia ranks 179th out of 215 countries with data for 2024.
- Is life expectancy at birth, total rising or falling in Zambia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 10.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Zambia data come from?
- The figures come from World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Life expectancy at birth, total (years). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 65 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.