Latin America & Caribbean | Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life. Development relevance: Mortality rates for different age groups (infants, children, and adults) and overall mortality indicators (life expectancy at birth or survival to a given age) are important indicators of health status in a country. Because data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. And they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Limitations and exceptions: Annual data series from United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects are interpolated data from 5-year period data. Therefore they may not reflect real events as much as observed data. Statistical concept and methodology: Life expectancy at birth used here is the average number of years a newborn is expected to live if mortality patterns at the time of its birth remain constant in the future. It reflects the overall mortality level of a population, and summarizes the mortality pattern that prevails across all age groups in a given year. It is calculated in a period life table which provides a snapshot of a population's mortality pattern at a given time. It therefore does not reflect the mortality pattern that a person actually experiences during his/her life, which can be calculated in a cohort life table. High mortality in young age groups significantly lowers the life expectancy at birth. But if a person survives his/her childhood of high mortality, he/she may live much longer. For example, in a population with a life expectancy at birth of 50, there may be few people dying at age 50. The life expectancy at birth may be low due to the high childhood mortality so that once a person survives his/her childhood, he/she may live much longer than 50 years.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Latin America & Caribbean
Records
63
Source
Latin America & Caribbean | Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
1960 55.15387904
1961 55.69794807
1962 56.14529872
1963 56.56533704
1964 57.07336588
1965 57.47083834
1966 57.88611811
1967 58.27295623
1968 58.649826
1969 59.00128852
1970 59.07360052
1971 59.88494717
1972 60.25160022
1973 60.79768764
1974 61.21727852
1975 61.74758185
1976 61.98354164
1977 62.54673083
1978 62.91484173
1979 63.26144668
1980 63.68616318
1981 64.1735062
1982 64.50575735
1983 65.05341875
1984 65.4641839
1985 65.78107983
1986 66.37351821
1987 66.79348346
1988 67.20105898
1989 67.53892344
1990 67.82420171
1991 68.17744203
1992 68.50585022
1993 68.83139057
1994 69.20814177
1995 69.51853073
1996 69.8922949
1997 70.25264244
1998 70.50652956
1999 70.91135465
2000 71.22843627
2001 71.48711822
2002 71.83684202
2003 72.02154934
2004 72.34386515
2005 72.71463922
2006 72.92421268
2007 73.06568532
2008 73.28782721
2009 73.49195702
2010 73.38564296
2011 73.87154444
2012 74.0973427
2013 74.34648539
2014 74.5506477
2015 74.61196958
2016 74.57923288
2017 74.7334935
2018 74.85149878
2019 75.03834947
2020 73.03847417
2021 72.14743433
2022
Latin America & Caribbean | Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life. Development relevance: Mortality rates for different age groups (infants, children, and adults) and overall mortality indicators (life expectancy at birth or survival to a given age) are important indicators of health status in a country. Because data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. And they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Limitations and exceptions: Annual data series from United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects are interpolated data from 5-year period data. Therefore they may not reflect real events as much as observed data. Statistical concept and methodology: Life expectancy at birth used here is the average number of years a newborn is expected to live if mortality patterns at the time of its birth remain constant in the future. It reflects the overall mortality level of a population, and summarizes the mortality pattern that prevails across all age groups in a given year. It is calculated in a period life table which provides a snapshot of a population's mortality pattern at a given time. It therefore does not reflect the mortality pattern that a person actually experiences during his/her life, which can be calculated in a cohort life table. High mortality in young age groups significantly lowers the life expectancy at birth. But if a person survives his/her childhood of high mortality, he/she may live much longer. For example, in a population with a life expectancy at birth of 50, there may be few people dying at age 50. The life expectancy at birth may be low due to the high childhood mortality so that once a person survives his/her childhood, he/she may live much longer than 50 years.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Latin America & Caribbean
Records
63
Source