Nigeria, 54.63 years: the world's lowest life expectancy
Nigeria ranks last with 54.63 years: soaring infant mortality and a collapsed health system explain the record.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Nigeria, last in life expectancy: 54.63 years
Nigeria is, according to World Bank data, the country with the lowest life expectancy at birth in the world. The 2024 figure, 54.63 years, is the lowest on the planet, even behind Chad (55.24) and South Sudan (57.74). The explanation is not where many people look: violence — real, but overstated — weighs less than infant mortality, the great silent killer.
First on a list nobody wants to lead
The figure appears in the World Bank's updated series from July 2024. Nigeria ranks last, at 54.63 years, and a quick glance at the list shows it is not a matter of extreme poverty: Somalia, with a failed state and worse humanitarian indicators, stands at 58.97, more than four years higher. Nor is it a population problem: with 240 million inhabitants, more than half the EU's population, Nigeria has resources that other Sahel countries can only dream of.
The key lies in children under five. Nigeria tops another ranking: 115.6 deaths per 1,000 births, the highest on the planet, ahead of Niger, Somalia or Chad. One in nine children not reaching the age of five drags down life expectancy with a force no homicide rate can match.
The underlying debate: governance, demographics and an uncomfortable historical factor
Some argue that high infant mortality is the result of a collapsed health system and uncontrolled birth rates. Others point to a factor few want to mention: the Catholic hierarchy's opposition to condoms in Africa during the 1980s, a stance that would have fueled decades of unplanned pregnancies and worsened the strain on a health system that was already lagging behind.
The truth is that Nigeria, with its oil and its size, has fewer excuses than its neighbors. The calculation is devastating: on similar incomes, other African countries have managed to cut infant mortality in half. Nigeria remains stuck at the bottom.
And the prediction, with caveats, is that it will not change soon. Reducing infant mortality is no mystery: it takes political will, not technology from another galaxy. As long as the figure of 115.6 per thousand remains, Nigeria will be the country where life weighs least. And not, precisely, for lack of data.
Nigeria is, according to World Bank data, the country with the lowest life expectancy at birth in the world. The 2024 figure, 54.63 years, is the lowest on the planet, even behind Chad (55.24) and South Sudan (57.74). The explanation is not where many people look: violence — real, but overstated — weighs less than infant mortality, the great silent killer.
First on a list nobody wants to lead
The figure appears in the World Bank's updated series from July 2024. Nigeria ranks last, at 54.63 years, and a quick glance at the list shows it is not a matter of extreme poverty: Somalia, with a failed state and worse humanitarian indicators, stands at 58.97, more than four years higher. Nor is it a population problem: with 240 million inhabitants, more than half the EU's population, Nigeria has resources that other Sahel countries can only dream of.
The key lies in children under five. Nigeria tops another ranking: 115.6 deaths per 1,000 births, the highest on the planet, ahead of Niger, Somalia or Chad. One in nine children not reaching the age of five drags down life expectancy with a force no homicide rate can match.
The underlying debate: governance, demographics and an uncomfortable historical factor
Some argue that high infant mortality is the result of a collapsed health system and uncontrolled birth rates. Others point to a factor few want to mention: the Catholic hierarchy's opposition to condoms in Africa during the 1980s, a stance that would have fueled decades of unplanned pregnancies and worsened the strain on a health system that was already lagging behind.
The truth is that Nigeria, with its oil and its size, has fewer excuses than its neighbors. The calculation is devastating: on similar incomes, other African countries have managed to cut infant mortality in half. Nigeria remains stuck at the bottom.
And the prediction, with caveats, is that it will not change soon. Reducing infant mortality is no mystery: it takes political will, not technology from another galaxy. As long as the figure of 115.6 per thousand remains, Nigeria will be the country where life weighs least. And not, precisely, for lack of data.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (66 replies).
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