Life expectancy by sex in Namibia

Namibia: Life expectancy by sex was 71.34 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
71.34 years
Change on year
up 4.8%
World rank
178th
of 236 countries
All-time high
71.34 years
in 2023
All-time low
44.23 years
in 1950
Years of data
74
1950–2023

Life expectancy by sex in Namibia, 1950–2023

020406080195019862023

Source: Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.

Analysis

Namibia recorded 71.34 years for life expectancy by sex in 2023. That is the highest value across all 74 years on record.

That represents a change of up 4.8% on the previous year and up 16.0% over ten years.

Over the whole period, life expectancy by sex in Namibia peaked at 71.34 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 44.23 years, in 1950.

That places Namibia 178th out of 236 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 74 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 46.93 years 44.23 years 49.84 years 10
1960s 53.48 years 50.5 years 56.25 years 10
1970s 59.69 years 56.82 years 62.5 years 10
1980s 63.84 years 62.65 years 64.58 years 10
1990s 60.22 years 55.75 years 64.32 years 10
2000s 55.02 years 53.51 years 57.85 years 10
2010s 62.84 years 58.67 years 67.3 years 10
2020s 68 years 64.55 years 71.34 years 4

Countries ranked near Namibia

  1. 175 Botswana 71.7 years compare
  2. 176 Palestine 71.5 years compare
  3. 177 Yemen 71.39 years compare
  4. 179 Laos 71.25 years compare
  5. 180 Bolivia 71.15 years compare
  6. 181 Micronesia (country) 71.12 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More population data for Namibia

All data for Namibia →

Frequently asked questions

What is life expectancy by sex in Namibia?
Life expectancy by sex in Namibia was 71.34 years in 2023, according to Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest life expectancy by sex recorded in Namibia?
The highest recorded value was 71.34 years in 2023.
What is the lowest life expectancy by sex recorded in Namibia?
The lowest recorded value was 44.23 years in 1950.
How does Namibia rank for life expectancy by sex?
Namibia ranks 178th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is life expectancy by sex rising or falling in Namibia?
Over the last ten years it is up 16.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Namibia data come from?
The figures come from Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy by sex. 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

Indicator
Life expectancy by sex
Unit
years
Source
Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
236 places, 18,722 data points, 1751–2023
Last refreshed

The period life expectancy at birth among females, in a given year.