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Business Insider
5 days ago
- Health
- Business Insider
Top 10 African countries with the lowest life expectancy
Despite being one of Africa's largest economies, Nigeria struggles with systemic challenges that shorten lifespans, including widespread infectious diseases, high poverty rates, insecurity, and a lack of adequate healthcare and infrastructure. Business Insider Africa presents the top 10 African countries with the lowest life expectancy. The list is courtesy of the UN's World Population Prospect. For instance, Nigeria's average life expectancy of 54.6 years is a stark contrast to Monaco, where people live the longest. Most of us don't sit around wondering how long we'll live. But the average life expectancy in your country says a lot more than just how many birthdays people might celebrate. It's a powerful indicator of how well a society is doing when it comes to healthcare, living conditions, education, nutrition, and even political stability. Globally, life expectancy can vary depending on where you're born. According to the latest World Population Prospects report by the United Nations, there's a stark divide between high-income and low-income nations. Wealthier countries, equipped with advanced healthcare systems, cleaner environments, and better infrastructure, tend to have significantly higher life expectancies than poorer nations that grapple with disease, malnutrition, conflict, and poor access to healthcare. Unfortunately, Africa dominates at the bottom of the global life expectancy chart. Of the 25 countries with the lowest life expectancy in the world, 24 are on the African continent. This isn't just a coincidence, it reflects deep-seated challenges like underfunded healthcare systems, limited access to clean water and sanitation, high rates of infectious diseases like malaria and HIV/AIDS, and ongoing political or economic instability in many regions. For instance, Nigeria's average life expectancy of 54.6 years is a stark contrast to Monaco, where people live the longest, with an average of nearly 87 years, a gap of more than 32 years. Despite being one of Africa's largest economies, Nigeria struggles with systemic challenges that shorten lifespans, including widespread infectious diseases, high poverty rates, insecurity, and a lack of adequate healthcare and infrastructure. Below are the top 10 African countries with the lowest life expectancy: Rank Country Life Expectancy (Both Sexes) Life Expectancy (Male) Life Expectancy (Female) 1 Nigeria 🇳🇬 54.6 54.3 54.9 2 Chad 🇹🇩 55.2 53.4 57.2 3 South Sudan 🇸🇸 57.7 54.8 60.8 4 Central African Republic 🇨🇫 57.7 55.5 59.6 5 Lesotho 🇱🇸 57.8 55.0 60.4 6 Somalia 🇸🇴 59.0 56.5 61.5 7 Mali 🇲🇱 60.7 59.3 62.1 8 Guinea 🇬🇳 60.9 59.7 59.7 9 Benin 🇧🇯 61.0 59.5 62.4 10 Burkina Faso 🇧🇫 61.3 59.1 63.4
Gulf Insider
6 days ago
- Business
- Gulf Insider
Which Countries Have The Lowest Life Expectancy?
The average life expectancy of a country reflects the cumulative impacts of economic development, quality of life, healthcare systems, and various other factors that affect overall well-being. Across the globe, life expectancy differs sharply between high-income and low-income countries. This infographic, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, shows the 25 countries with the lowest life expectancy (at birth) in the world, using data from the UN's World Population Prospects portal. The African continent hosts 24 of the 25 countries with the lowest life expectancy, many of which are also among the least developed countries in the world. Here's a look at the countries with the lowest life expectancy: Rank Country Life Expectancy(Both Sexes) Life Expectancy (Male) Life Expectancy (Female) 1 Nigeria 🇳🇬 54.6 54.3 54.9 2 Chad 🇹🇩 55.2 53.4 57.2 3 South Sudan 🇸🇸 57.7 54.8 60.8 4 Central African Republic 🇨🇫 57.7 55.5 59.6 5 Lesotho 🇱🇸 57.8 55.0 60.4 6 Somalia 🇸🇴 59.0 56.5 61.5 7 Mali 🇲🇱 60.7 59.3 62.1 8 Guinea 🇬🇳 60.9 59.7 59.7 9 Benin 🇧🇯 61.0 59.5 62.4 10 Burkina Faso 🇧🇫 61.3 59.1 63.4 11 Niger 🇳🇪 61.4 60.5 62.4 12 Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 62.0 60.2 63.7 13 Ivory Coast 🇨🇮 62.1 60.2 64.3 14 DR Congo 🇨🇩 62.1 60.0 64.2 15 Liberia 🇱🇷 62.3 61.0 63.6 16 Nauru 🇳🇷 62.3 60.4 64.2 17 Togo 🇹🇬 62.9 62.7 63.1 18 Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 63.1 60.5 65.3 19 Kenya 🇰🇪 63.8 61.6 66.1 20 Madagascar 🇲🇬 63.8 62.1 65.6 21 Burundi 🇧🇮 63.8 61.8 65.9 22 Mozambique 🇲🇿 63.8 60.5 66.7 23 Equatorial Guinea 🇬🇶 63.9 62.2 65.9 24 Cameroon 🇨🇲 64.0 61.8 66.2 25 Guinea-Bissau 🇬🇼 64.3 61.8 66.5 Nigeria's average of 54.6 years is around 32 years lower than Monaco's, where people live the longest. Nigeria ranks among Africa's largest economies, but life expectancy is shortened by widespread diseases, high poverty rates, and lack of adequate infrastructure. In Central Africa, Chad also has one of the world's lowest life expectancies at 55.2 years. Other nations in the region, such as the Central African Republic and South Sudan, continue to be affected by political instability and limited access to basic healthcare services. Meanwhile, Nauru, an island country in Oceania, is the only non-African country on the list and one of the smallest nations in the world. Additionally, women outlive men in almost every country on the list (except Guinea). Mozambique has the largest gender-life expectancy gap, with women living longer by 6.2 years on average. While the figures remain alarmingly low in some African countries, life expectancy on the continent as a whole increased from 53.7 years in 2000 to 63.8 years in 2023. Furthermore, the continent hosts some of the world's fastest-growing economies, including South Sudan and Niger, where life expectancy is currently low. With potential for economic growth and infrastructure development, Africa's life expectancy is projected to improve to 66 years by 2035 and over 68 years by 2050, although it would remain below the global average.
Listly
27-05-2025
- General
- Listly
List of Countries by Population: World Rankings
The story of humanity's expansion reveals critical patterns in development and resource use. Over the last century, global numbers surged from 1.6 billion to over 8 billion people, driven by medical advancements and agricultural breakthroughs. This growth hasn't been uniform – while some regions stabilize, others experience explosive demographic changes. From Farms to Megacities In 1950, only 30% of people lived in urban areas. Today, that number exceeds 55%, according to United Nations reports. Countries like Nigeria and India see cities swelling as rural communities shrink. These shifts impact everything from job markets to energy consumption patterns. What the Numbers Tell Us The World Population Prospects report shows growth rates slowing globally, but regional variations remain stark. Africa's population could double by 2050, while Europe's numbers plateau. Policymakers use these insights to plan healthcare systems and housing needs decades in advance. Understanding these trends helps businesses and governments prepare for tomorrow's challenges. As United Nations experts note, sustainable planning requires blending current data with long-term population projections. The choices we make today will shape communities for generations to come.
Indian Express
14-05-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
On palliative care, India has the blueprint for success — it must implement it
Written by N M Mujeeb Rahman The Human Development Index 2025 (HDI) report ranked India 130th out of 193 countries, underscoring persistent inequalities in health, education, and income. While national life expectancy has improved, the report highlights how access to healthcare — especially quality care for vulnerable groups — remains deeply unequal. One of the most overlooked examples of this inequality is end-of-life care. According to the United Nations World Population Prospects, India's elderly population — those aged 60 years and above — is projected to increase from around 149 million in 2022 to over 300 million by 2050. At the same time, non-communicable diseases like cancer, heart disease, stroke, and dementia now account for more than two-thirds of all deaths in the country, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Yet millions who live — and die — with chronic, life-limiting illnesses receive little to no palliative care. The scale of suffering is staggering. The Lancet Commission on Global Access to Palliative Care and Pain Relief estimates that more than 60 per cent of India's 10 million annual deaths involve serious health-related suffering that could be relieved with appropriate care. Yet less than 2 per cent of India's population has access to any form of palliative support. Meanwhile, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that over 31,000 people died by suicide in 2022 due to illness and disability — a stark reflection of how untreated pain and despair can become fatal. Despite these grim realities, palliative care remains largely absent from India's public health priorities. In much of India, healthcare continues to focus exclusively on curing disease. When a cure is no longer possible, patients are often sent home — in pain, isolated, and unsupported. Kerala: A different story Today, nearly 70 per cent of Kerala's population has access to some form of palliative care — a remarkable contrast to the rest of the country. Across towns and villages, it is not unusual to see trained volunteers, often accompanied by doctors, nurses or physiotherapists, visiting bedridden elders and those with chronic illnesses in their homes. They offer not just medications and wound care, but something far more valuable: Conversation, human presence, and dignity. The state's approach is community-driven, professionally supported, and publicly funded. Many local self-governments — panchayats and municipalities — run palliative care clinics, employing trained healthcare workers while relying heavily on networks of community volunteers. Rather than treating palliative care as a luxury or a specialist domain, Kerala has made it a basic public health service, accessible and available to all. The roots of this model go back more than two decades to the Neighbourhood Network in Palliative Care (NNPC), an initiative started in Kozhikode. It championed a simple but transformative idea: That with proper training, ordinary citizens could provide critical support to those suffering from serious illnesses. The NNPC promoted decentralisation, local ownership, and a focus on strengthening human connections alongside clinical care. And it worked. Why the rest of India has struggled However, replicating Kerala's success across the country has proved challenging. Most Indian states still lack a coherent palliative care policy. Budgetary allocations are either absent or insufficient. Where palliative services exist, they are often driven by isolated NGOs or passionate individuals rather than systemic government support. Moreover, local self-governments outside Kerala are rarely empowered or resourced to lead healthcare initiatives in the way Kerala's panchayats have been. There is also a deeper issue: A conceptual gap in understanding palliative care itself. It continues to be seen narrowly as an end-of-life service for cancer patients, rather than as a comprehensive support system for anyone living with a serious chronic illness — whether that is advanced heart failure, stroke, dementia, or long-term neurological conditions. What must change If India is to truly address the needs of its aging, chronically ill population, four steps are urgently needed: One, India must strengthen and fully implement the existing National Programme for Palliative Care (NPPC), ensuring it has adequate budget allocations and clear accountability mechanisms. Two, it must integrate palliative services into the primary healthcare system, ensuring every Primary Health Centre (PHC) and district hospital provides basic palliative support. Three, empower and resource local self-governments to lead community-based palliative care initiatives, following Kerala's example. Four, the national narrative must be changed — palliative care has to be seen as a human right, not a specialist privilege, and must be embedded into mainstream medical education and public health programmes. India already holds the blueprint for success. Kerala's experience demonstrates that compassion can be organised, suffering can be alleviated, and dignity can be made a public health goal. But achieving this nationally will require political will, civil society engagement, and a public commitment to making invisible suffering visible — and addressable. The choice before us is clear. We can either continue to neglect millions at their most vulnerable, or we can build a healthcare system that truly values not just life, but the quality and dignity of life, until its very end. The writer is co-founder, Global Palliative Doctors Network
Zawya
21-03-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Togo advances commitment to integrating demographic dividend-sensitive budgeting into the 2026 budget cycle
As part of the implementation of the African Union's Roadmap on «Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth," the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa's Subregional Office for West Africa (ECA/SRO-WA) is providing technical assistance to support the operationalization of the Budgeting Sensitive to Demographic Dividend (BSDD) approach in Togo. In this context, a technical workshop targeting key budgetary stakeholders will be held from 25 to 27 March 2025, in Lomé, Togo. The objective is to build national capacity in integrating demographic dividend-sensitive perspectives into public budgeting and broaden fiscal transformation processes. This initiative aims to enhance Togo's efforts to accelerate the harnessing of the demographic dividend, a critical driver for inclusive, sustainable, and transformative economic growth. According to the National Institute of Statistics, Economic and Demographic Studies (INSEED), data from the most recent General Population and Housing Census (GPHC5, November 2022), show that individuals under 15 years of age account for over 37.5% of Togo's population, while those under 25 represent approximately 59%. With an estimated annual population growth rate of 2.16% in 2024, the country's population is projected to double within the next 30 years. At the same time, the country is undergoing a demographic transition, evidenced by a decline in the total fertility rate from 6.8 children per woman in 1981 to 4.12 children in 2024 (as reported in the United Nations' World Population Prospects, 2024). This evolving demographic profile presents both opportunities and challenges, particularly in the delivery of essential services in education, health, and employment. It underscores the urgent need for increased public investment in young people, both girls and boys—to harness their full potential. To this end, the BSDD approach offers a strategic framework to optimize public resource allocation through the national budget —Togo's primary instrument for implementing its development priorities. The technical support provided by ECA/SRO-WA comes at a pivotal time, building on previous achievements. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Togo has already incorporated the BSDD approach into the 2025 budgetary framework letter and mainstreamed demographic dividend considerations into the gender-sensitive budget document. These efforts mark a foundational step toward institutionalizing BSDD in national planning and budgeting processes. In this perspective, this support aims to strengthen the capacities of key budgetary actors involved in the formulation and execution of the 2026 national budget. The initiative reaffirms Togo's strong political will and institutional commitment to accelerating the demographic dividend. This activity is conducted in partnership with the Directorate General of Budget and Finance, the Directorate General of Development Planning, INSEED, and the financial and planning departments of key sectoral ministries and institutions—particularly those responsible for education, health, employment, and youth. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
