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China — Life expectancy
Life Expectancy at Birth for China, 1960–2024.
Latest value · 2024
78.0
Life Expectancy at Birth · years · +133.5% since 1960
Life expectancy for China was 78.0 in 2024, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 65 years, from 1960 to 2024. The highest recorded value was 78.2 in 2022. The lowest was 33.4 in 1960 (about 2.3× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 1.33% per year.
China ranks 70 of 217 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 32%. The median for East Asia & Pacific is 73.0, so China sits above it. It peaked in 2022 and has fallen 0% since. Over the last decade (2014–2024) the figure moved up 2%.
Key figures
Latest (2024)
78.0
First (1960)
33.4
Change
+133.5%
Highest
78.2
in 2022
Lowest
33.4
in 1960
Average
67.2
Annual growth (CAGR)
1.33%
Years of data
65
Recent years
| Year | years |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 78.02 |
| 2023 | 77.95 |
| 2022 | 78.2 |
| 2021 | 78.12 |
| 2020 | 78.02 |
| 2019 | 77.94 |
| 2018 | 77.71 |
| 2017 | 77.24 |
| 2016 | 77.21 |
| 2015 | 76.97 |
| 2014 | 76.71 |
| 2013 | 76.45 |
Reading this correctly. Number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of birth stayed the same throughout its life. Figures are in years. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
SP.DYN.LE00.IN — Life Expectancy at Birth. Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.