The global average life expectancy is about 71.4 years, based on the most recent World Health Organization estimates from 2021. That number dropped sharply during the pandemic, falling 1.8 years between 2019 and 2021 and erasing nearly a decade of steady progress. In the United States, the picture is brighter: life expectancy reached an all-time high of 79.0 years in 2024.
How the Global Average Has Changed Over Time
A century ago, the average newborn could expect to live just 32 years. That figure was dragged down heavily by infant and childhood mortality, not because most adults died in their thirties. Improvements in sanitation, vaccines, antibiotics, and nutrition drove a dramatic climb throughout the 20th century, more than doubling the global average.
By 2019, the world had reached a peak of about 73.1 years. Then COVID-19 reversed that trajectory. Between 2019 and 2021, life expectancy fell to 71.4 years, a level the world hadn’t seen since 2012. Healthy life expectancy, which measures how many years a person lives in good health rather than simply alive, dropped to 61.9 years over the same period. That gap of roughly 9.5 years represents the time people typically spend living with significant illness or disability.
Life Expectancy in the United States
U.S. life expectancy hit 79.0 years in 2024, up 0.6 years from 78.4 in 2023. That increase was driven largely by falling death rates from unintentional injuries, COVID-19, heart disease, cancer, and homicide. It marks a new all-time high for the country, surpassing the pre-pandemic peak.
Still, the U.S. lags well behind other wealthy nations. Among comparable high-income countries, the U.S. ranks at the bottom. Switzerland leads at 84.2 years, followed closely by Japan at 84.1. Sweden, Australia, and France all hover around 83 years. Germany (81.2), the United Kingdom (81.3), the Netherlands (81.9), and Austria (82.1) also outpace the U.S. by two to three years. Higher rates of gun violence, drug overdose deaths, obesity, and uneven access to healthcare all contribute to the American gap.
Women Live Longer Than Men
Women outlive men in virtually every country on Earth. In the United States, the gap has been widening: men now die nearly six years before women on average. Several factors explain this. Men have higher rates of heart disease, are more likely to die from accidents and violence, and historically have had higher rates of smoking and heavy drinking. Biological differences also play a role. Estrogen appears to offer some cardiovascular protection, and having two X chromosomes may provide a genetic backup against certain inherited vulnerabilities.
What Drives Differences Between Countries
The 13-year gap between Switzerland’s 84.2 years and many low-income nations reflects enormous differences in living conditions. The biggest factors that separate long-lived populations from the rest include:
- Child mortality: Countries where more children survive past age five see dramatically higher average life expectancy. Access to clean water, basic vaccines, and nutrition during early childhood has the single largest impact on national averages.
- Infectious disease burden: HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria still shorten lives significantly in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where treatment access remains limited.
- Chronic disease and lifestyle: In wealthier countries, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are the primary killers. Diets high in processed food, physical inactivity, smoking, and alcohol use all chip away at life expectancy.
- Healthcare access: Universal healthcare systems tend to produce longer-lived populations. Countries with large uninsured populations, including the U.S., see preventable deaths from conditions that are treatable when caught early.
- Violence and injury: Homicide, traffic accidents, and drug overdoses have an outsized effect on life expectancy in certain countries because they disproportionately kill younger people, pulling the average down sharply.
Lifespan vs. Healthspan
Living longer doesn’t necessarily mean living well. The WHO tracks “healthy life expectancy,” which counts only the years spent in reasonably good health. Globally, that figure stood at 61.9 years in 2021, compared to total life expectancy of 71.4 years. The roughly 9.5-year difference represents time spent managing chronic pain, limited mobility, cognitive decline, or serious illness. In high-income countries, where people live longer overall, the gap can be even wider because medical technology keeps people alive through extended periods of poor health.
This distinction matters for personal planning. Staying physically active, maintaining social connections, managing blood pressure and blood sugar, and avoiding smoking are among the most evidence-backed ways to extend not just your total years but the healthy ones.
Where Life Expectancy Is Headed
United Nations projections estimate the global average will rise to 77 years by 2045 to 2050, and eventually reach 83 years by the end of the century. Those projections assume continued improvements in healthcare, falling child mortality in developing nations, and no catastrophic global events on the scale of a major pandemic. The COVID-19 experience showed how quickly progress can reverse: a single event erased gains that took a decade to achieve. Climate change, antibiotic resistance, and emerging infectious diseases all pose risks to the upward trend, though long-term gains are still expected to continue.