Japan and Monaco regularly post life expectancies above 84 years. Across 217 countries with 2024 data, Monaco tops the table for life expectancy at 86.5 years, while Nigeria sits at the bottom on 54.6 years.

The top 10

1. Monaco — 86.5 years
2. San Marino — 85.8 years
3. Hong Kong SAR, China — 85.4 years
4. Kuwait — 84.6 years
5. Switzerland — 84.4 years
6. Liechtenstein — 84.2 years
7. French Polynesia — 84.2 years
8. Andorra — 84.2 years
9. Sweden — 84.1 years
10. Japan — 84 years

At the other end of the table

• Nigeria — 54.6 years
• Chad — 55.2 years
• Central African Republic — 57.7 years

What the numbers show

The global average sits at about 74 years, with 114 of 217 countries above it and a median of 74.7 years. Monaco reports roughly 1.6× the figure of Nigeria — a reminder of how unevenly life expectancy is spread.

Explore the complete, sortable ranking on the Life Expectancy by country map, or test your instincts in the daily map-guessing game. Data: World Bank Open Data, 2024.