Economy · Life expectancy at birth · Benin
Benin’s life expectancy at birth rose to 61 years in 2024.
61 years
2024
Up 0.19 years from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
61 years
What it is. Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn would live if the death rates of one year applied at every age throughout that life. It is built from age-specific mortality, so deaths of babies and young children weigh heavily on it, and it responds quickly when child survival improves. It describes a hypothetical lifetime in a single year, so it cannot show differences between regions, income groups or men and women, or the mortality changes still to come.
Higher is better. Higher is better because a longer expected life reflects fewer early deaths and better health care, nutrition and living conditions. Benin's latest figure is 61 years for 2024, up 0.19 years, or 0.31%, from 60.8 years a year earlier. Since 2015 the lowest figure was 59.1 years in 2015, and the 2024 reading is the highest in that span. The gain over the period is steady progress that leaves Benin at the top of its own recent range.
Why it matters. A child born in Benin in 2024 can expect to live about 61 years if current mortality persists. For households, that horizon shapes how long people plan to work, save and raise children. For the state, each further year of expected life adds to the number of people who need health services, schooling and support across a longer lifetime.
| Period | Life expectancy at birth · Benin |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 59.1 years |
| 2016 | 59.3 years |
| 2017 | 59.5 years |
| 2018 | 59.7 years |
| 2019 | 59.9 years |
| 2020 | 60.2 years |
| 2021 | 59.6 years |
| 2022 | 60.5 years |
| 2023 | 60.8 years |
| 2024 | 61 years |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, Life expectancy at birth, Benin, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/life-expectancy/benin
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
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Methodology
Life expectancy at birth, total. Unit: years.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series SP.DYN.LE00.IN), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.