Life expectancy in Mauritania
Mauritania: Life expectancy was 68.48 years in 2023. ▲ Rising
Life expectancy in Mauritania, 1950–2023
Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.
Analysis
In 2023, life expectancy in Mauritania stood at 68.48 years. That is the highest value across all 74 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.3% on the previous year and up 3.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, life expectancy in Mauritania peaked at 68.48 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 38.38 years, in 1950.
Mauritania ranks 182nd of 236 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 74 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 40.48 years | 38.38 years | 42.89 years | 10 |
| 1960s | 46.93 years | 43.61 years | 50.09 years | 10 |
| 1970s | 51.54 years | 50.54 years | 52.76 years | 10 |
| 1980s | 55.52 years | 53.2 years | 57.7 years | 10 |
| 1990s | 59 years | 58.09 years | 60.44 years | 10 |
| 2000s | 63.51 years | 61.04 years | 65.48 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 66.48 years | 65.66 years | 67.64 years | 10 |
| 2020s | 67.58 years | 66.76 years | 68.48 years | 4 |
Countries ranked near Mauritania
More health data for Mauritania
- Age population, age 13, female, interpolated 65,281 (2025)
- Age population, age 15, male, interpolated 62,908 (2025)
- Age population, age 15, female, interpolated 61,540 (2025)
- Age population, age 14, male, interpolated 65,225 (2025)
- Population, female 2.71 million (2025)
- Age population, age 14, female, interpolated 63,407 (2025)
- Age population, age 13, male, interpolated 67,561 (2025)
- Age population, age 11, male, interpolated 69,336 (2025)
- Age dependency ratio, old 6.0% (2025)
- Age population, age 11, female, interpolated 67,815 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is life expectancy in Mauritania?
- Life expectancy in Mauritania was 68.48 years in 2023, according to Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest life expectancy recorded in Mauritania?
- The highest recorded value was 68.48 years in 2023.
- What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in Mauritania?
- The lowest recorded value was 38.38 years in 1950.
- How does Mauritania rank for life expectancy?
- Mauritania ranks 182nd out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
- Is life expectancy rising or falling in Mauritania?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Mauritania data come from?
- The figures come from Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 74 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Period life expectancy is the number of years the average person born in a certain year would live if they experienced the same chances of dying at each age as people did that year.