What is life expectancy in United States?

Life expectancy in United States was 79.3 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 United States?

The highest recorded value was 79.3 years in 2023.

What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in United States?

The lowest recorded value was 39.41 years in 1880.

How does United States rank for life expectancy?

United States ranks 63rd out of 236 countries with data for 2023.

Is life expectancy rising or falling in United States?

Over the last ten years it is up 0.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this United States 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.

Life expectancy in United States

Name: Life expectancy in United States
Creator: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
License: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)

United States: Life expectancy was 79.3 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)

79.3 years

Change on year

up 1.7%

World rank

63rd

of 236 countries

All-time high

79.3 years

in 2023

All-time low

39.41 years

in 1880

Years of data

125

1880–2023

Life expectancy in United States, 1880–2023

Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.

Analysis

The most recent figure for life expectancy in United States is 79.3 years, measured in 2023. That is the highest value across all 125 years on record.

That represents a change of up 1.7% on the previous year and up 0.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, life expectancy in United States peaked at 79.3 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 39.41 years, in 1880.

United States ranks 63rd of 236 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 125 years of available data.

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
1880s	39.41 years	39.41 years	39.41 years	1
1890s	45.21 years	45.21 years	45.21 years	1
1900s	50.59 years	49.3 years	52.8 years	9
1910s	53.32 years	47.2 years	55.3 years	10
1920s	58.03 years	55.4 years	59.4 years	10
1930s	60.97 years	59.6 years	63.07 years	10
1940s	65.43 years	63.22 years	67.63 years	10
1950s	69.1 years	68.07 years	69.9 years	10
1960s	70.2 years	69.83 years	70.52 years	10
1970s	72.22 years	70.73 years	73.83 years	10
1980s	74.57 years	73.73 years	75.11 years	10
1990s	75.98 years	75.37 years	76.67 years	10
2000s	77.54 years	76.81 years	78.48 years	10
2010s	78.77 years	78.65 years	78.92 years	10
2020s	77.67 years	76.38 years	79.3 years	4

Countries ranked near United States

60 Albania 79.6 years compare
61 Panama 79.59 years compare
62 Anguilla 79.31 years compare
64 Falkland Islands 79.21 years compare
65 Estonia 79.15 years compare
66 Northern Mariana Islands 78.81 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for United States

Age dependency ratio 55.0% (2025)
Population, male 50.2% (2025)
Population, male 171.74 million (2025)
Age population, age 13, female, interpolated 2.05 million (2025)
Age population, age 12, male, interpolated 2.16 million (2025)
Population, female 49.8% (2025)
Age dependency ratio, young 26.5% (2025)
Age population, age 10, male, interpolated 2.15 million (2025)
Population, female 170.05 million (2025)
Age population, age 10, female, interpolated 2.03 million (2025)

All data for United States →

Frequently asked questions

What is life expectancy in United States?: Life expectancy in United States was 79.3 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 United States?: The highest recorded value was 79.3 years in 2023.
What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in United States?: The lowest recorded value was 39.41 years in 1880.
How does United States rank for life expectancy?: United States ranks 63rd out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is life expectancy rising or falling in United States?: Over the last ten years it is up 0.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this United States 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 — 125 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator: Life expectancy
Unit: years
Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 236 places, 19,452 data points, 1543–2023
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

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.