Visual Capitalist recently revealed the top 25 countries with the highest life expectancy and if you’re from the U.S., you might not be thrilled with the results.
In 2024, the world’s average life expectancy was found to be 73 years old. Though this may sound young to you, it was even lower in 2000, when the average global life expectancy was 66. Fortunately, life expectancy has been steadily increasing over time and some countries, in particular, boast significantly higher life expectancies than others.
Residents of Monaco have the highest life expectancy with the average male expected to live until 84.6 years old and the average female living until 88.6 years old. Averaged overall, people living in Monaco have a life expectancy of 86.5 years old.
Following behind Monaco is San Marino and Hong Kong with an average life expectancy of 85.8 years and 85.6 years. Unfortunately, the United States didn’t even make it into the top 25 countries for the highest life expectancies.
According to the North American Community Hub Statistics, the average U.S. life expectancy is 79.25 years.
Top 25 countries with the highest life expectancy
- Monaco: 86.5 years
- San Marino: 85.8 years
- Hong Kong: 85.6 years
- Japan: 84.8 years
- South Korea: 84.4 years
- Andorra: 84.2 years
- Switzerland: 84.1 years
- Australia: 84.1 years
- Italy: 83.9 years
- Singapore: 83.9 years
- Spain: 83.8 years
- Liechtenstein: 83.8 years
- Malta: 83.5 years
- France: 83.5 years
- Norway: 83.5 years
- Sweden: 83.4 years
- Vatican City: 83.1 years
- UAE: 83.1 years
- Iceland: 83.0 years
- Israel: 82.7 years
- Canada: 82.7 years
- Ireland: 82.6 years
- Portugal: 82.5 years
- Qatar: 82.5 years
- Luxembourg: 82.4 years
Of the 25 countries listed, 16 of them are in Europe. Canada was the only country in North America to rank within the top 25.
The study emphasizes that life expectancy is heavily tied to a country’s quality of life and overall well-being. It was further noted that most countries within the top 25 for highest life expectancy have high per-capita healthcare spending.
If you get a closer look at the online ranking, you’ll find that women’s life expectancy tends to surpass men’s. In fact, women in the top 25 countries will outlive men by an average of four years. This division is a result of both biological and behavioral factors. Not only do newborn boys have a higher mortality rate than girls, women are less inclined to “engage in high-risk behaviors as compared to men.”