Economy · Life expectancy at birth · Botswana
Botswana’s life expectancy at birth rose to 69.3 years in 2024.
69.3 years
2024
Up 0.13 years from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
69.3 years
What it is. Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn would live if the death rates at each age in a given year stayed the same throughout life. It is built from a life table that combines mortality at every age, so deaths of infants, young adults and older people all feed into one number. It describes a single year's mortality conditions. It leaves out how healthy those years are and how much lifespans differ between groups within the country.
Higher is better. Higher is better because a longer average life means fewer deaths at young and working ages and better survival through the whole life course. Botswana's latest figure is 69.3 years for 2024, up 0.13 years from 69.2 years a year earlier. Since 2015 the lowest figure was 63.2 years in 2015, and the 2024 figure is the highest in that span. The latest reading therefore sits at the top of its range since 2015.
Why it matters. A newborn in Botswana can now expect to live to about 69, several years longer than in 2015. For households, that means more years of earning, raising children and supporting older relatives. For the state, it means health services and retirement support have to cover a longer span of life for each person.
| Period | Life expectancy at birth · Botswana |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 63.2 years |
| 2016 | 64.3 years |
| 2017 | 65.4 years |
| 2018 | 66.4 years |
| 2019 | 67.2 years |
| 2020 | 67.6 years |
| 2021 | 63.3 years |
| 2022 | 68.7 years |
| 2023 | 69.2 years |
| 2024 | 69.3 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, Botswana, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/life-expectancy/botswana
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this 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.