Maybe Money Can’t Buy Happiness, But It Can Buy Longevity…

How long you live depends a lot on where you’re born…

Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao illustrates this phenomenon in the above map, which uses 2025 life expectancy at birth projections from the UN World Population Prospects published last year.

Life expectancy at birth measures the average number of years that a newborn could expect to live, if they were subject to the age-specific mortality rates of a given period.

This number visualized is an average between men and women. For extra context, women have higher life expectancies than men in nearly every country in the world.

Ranked: Countries Where People Live the Longest

The micronation of Monaco has the highest average life expectancy in the world. A baby born in the country in 2025 can expect to live to 87 years old.

Rank	Country	ISO Code	Average life expectancy at birth, 2025 (in years)
1	Monaco	MCO	87
2	San Marino	SMR	86
3	Hong Kong	HKG	86
4	Japan	JPN	85
5	South Korea	KOR	85
6	Saint Barthélemy	BLM	85
7	Andorra	AND	84
8	French Polynesia	PYF	84
9	Switzerland	CHE	84
10	Australia	AUS	84
11	Italy	ITA	84
12	Singapore	SGP	84
13	Spain	ESP	84
14	Liechtenstein	LIE	84
15	Réunion	REU	84
16	Gibraltar	GIB	84
17	Malta	MLT	84
18	Norway	NOR	84
19	France	FRA	84
20	Sweden	SWE	84
21	Guernsey	GGY	84
22	Macao	MAC	83
23	Holy See	VAT	83
24	UAE	ARE	83
25	Iceland	ISL	83
26	Martinique	MTQ	83
27	Canada	CAN	83
28	Israel	ISR	83
29	Ireland	IRL	83
30	Portugal	PRT	83
31	Qatar	QAT	83
32	Bermuda	BMU	83
33	Luxembourg	LUX	82
34	Netherlands	NLD	82
35	Belgium	BEL	82
36	Guadeloupe	GLP	82
37	New Zealand	NZL	82
38	Austria	AUT	82
39	Denmark	DNK	82
40	Finland	FIN	82
41	Greece	GRC	82
42	Puerto Rico	PRI	82
43	Cyprus	CYP	82
44	Slovenia	SVN	82
45	Germany	DEU	82
46	UK	GBR	82
47	Bahrain	BHR	82
48	Chile	CHL	82
49	Maldives	MDV	82
50	Isle of Man	IMN	81
51	Costa Rica	CRI	81
52	Taiwan	TWN	81
53	Kuwait	KWT	81
54	Cayman Islands	CYM	81
55	Saint Martin	MAF	81
56	Faroe Islands	FRO	81
57	Oman	OMN	80
58	Czechia	CZE	80
59	Jersey	JEY	80
60	Panama	PAN	80
61	Albania	ALB	80
62	Anguilla	AIA	80
63	U.S.	USA	80
64	Falkland Islands	FLK	80
65	Estonia	EST	79
66	Saudi Arabia	SAU	79
67	Northern Mariana Islands	MNP	79
68	New Caledonia	NCL	79
69	Poland	POL	79
70	Croatia	HRV	79
71	Wallis & Futuna Islands	WLF	79
72	Slovakia	SVK	79
73	Uruguay	URY	78
74	Cuba	CUB	78
75	Kosovo	XKX	78
76	China	CHN	78
77	Turks & Caicos Islands	TCA	78
78	Bosnia & Herzegovina	BIH	78
79	Jordan	JOR	78
80	Peru	PER	78
81	Colombia	COL	78
82	Lebanon	LBN	78
83	Iran	IRN	78
84	Antigua and Barbuda	ATG	78
85	Sri Lanka	LKA	78
86	Türkiye	TUR	78
87	Bonaire	BES	78
88	Ecuador	ECU	78
89	Argentina	ARG	78
90	North Macedonia	MKD	78
91	Guam	GUM	78
92	British Virgin Islands	VGB	78
93	Polynesia (no emoji available)	POL	78
94	Montenegro	MNE	77
95	French Guiana	GUF	77
96	Hungary	HUN	77
97	Tokelau	TKL	77
98	Curaçao	CUW	77
99	Serbia	SRB	77
100	Saint Helena	SHN	77
101	Saint Pierre & Miquelon	SPM	77
102	Malaysia	MYS	77
103	Tunisia	TUN	77
104	Thailand	THA	77
105	Sint Maarten	SXM	77
106	Algeria	DZA	77
107	Aruba	ABW	77
108	Barbados	BRB	76
109	Montserrat	MSR	76
110	Latvia	LVA	76
111	Mayotte	MYT	76
112	Cabo Verde	CPV	76
113	Lithuania	LTU	76
114	Romania	ROU	76
115	Brazil	BRA	76
116	Armenia	ARM	76
117	Bulgaria	BGR	76
118	U.S. Virgin Islands	VIR	76
119	Morocco	MAR	76
120	Brunei Darussalam	BRN	76
121	Cook Islands	COK	76
122	Grenada	GRD	76
123	Mexico	MEX	75
124	Mauritius	MUS	75
125	Nicaragua	NIC	75
126	Bangladesh	BGD	75
127	Viet Nam	VNM	75
128	Ukraine	UKR	75
129	Bahamas	BHS	75
130	Georgia	GEO	75
131	Belarus	BLR	75
132	Azerbaijan	AZE	75
133	Kazakhstan	KAZ	75
134	Paraguay	PRY	74
135	Dominican Republic	DOM	74
136	Belize	BLZ	74
137	Suriname	SUR	74
138	North Korea	PRK	74
139	Trinidad & Tobago	TTO	74
140	Bhutan	BTN	74
141	Russia	RUS	74
142	Tonga	TON	73
143	Honduras	HND	73
144	Libya	LBY	73
145	Seychelles	SYC	73
146	American Samoa	ASM	73
147	Palestine	PSE	73
148	Saint Lucia	LCA	73
149	Syria	SYR	73
150	Guatemala	GTM	73
151	Venezuela	VEN	73
152	Uzbekistan	UZB	73
153	Iraq	IRQ	73
154	El Salvador	SLV	73
155	India	IND	72
156	Saint Kitts and Nevis	KNA	72
157	Mongolia	MNG	72
158	Tajikistan	TJK	72
159	Egypt	EGY	72
160	Kyrgyzstan	KGZ	72
161	Samoa	WSM	72
162	Vanuatu	VUT	72
163	Western Sahara	ESH	72
164	Jamaica	JAM	72
165	Saint Vincent & the Grenadines	VCT	72
166	Moldova	MDA	71
167	Dominica	DMA	71
168	Indonesia	IDN	71
169	Cambodia	KHM	71
170	Nepal	NPL	71
171	Solomon Islands	SLB	71
172	Guyana	GUY	70
173	Turkmenistan	TKM	70
174	Greenland	GRL	70
175	Niue	NIU	70
176	Sao Tome and Principe	STP	70
177	Philippines	PHL	70
178	Yemen	YEM	70
179	Palau	PLW	69
180	Laos	LAO	69
181	Botswana	BWA	69
182	Senegal	SEN	69
183	Eritrea	ERI	69
184	Mauritania	MRT	69
185	Bolivia	BOL	69
186	Uganda	UGA	69
187	Gabon	GAB	69
188	Rwanda	RWA	68
189	Timor-Leste	TLS	68
190	Pakistan	PAK	68
191	Ethiopia	ETH	68
192	Malawi	MWI	68
193	Namibia	NAM	68
194	Fiji	FJI	68
195	Micronesia	FSM	68
196	Tanzania	TZA	67
197	Tuvalu	TUV	67
198	Myanmar	MMR	67
199	Comoros	COM	67
200	Marshall Islands	MHL	67
201	Kiribati	KIR	67
202	Sudan	SDN	67
203	Zambia	ZMB	67
204	Afghanistan	AFG	67
205	South Africa	ZAF	66
206	Djibouti	DJI	66
207	Papua New Guinea	PNG	66
208	Gambia	GMB	66
209	Congo	COG	66
210	Ghana	GHA	66
211	Haiti	HTI	65
212	Angola	AGO	65
213	Guinea-Bissau	GNB	64
214	Eswatini	SWZ	64
215	Cameroon	CMR	64
216	Equatorial Guinea	GNQ	64
217	Madagascar	MDG	64
218	Kenya	KEN	64
219	Burundi	BDI	64
220	Mozambique	MOZ	64
221	Zimbabwe	ZWE	63
222	Togo	TGO	63
223	Liberia	LBR	62
224	Nauru	NRU	62
225	Côte d’Ivoire	CIV	62
226	DRC	COD	62
227	Sierra Leone	SLE	62
228	Niger	NER	62
229	Burkina Faso	BFA	61
230	Benin	BEN	61
231	Guinea	GIN	61
232	Mali	MLI	61
233	Somalia	SOM	59
234	Lesotho	LSO	58
235	Central African Republic	CAF	58
236	South Sudan	SSD	58
237	Chad	TCD	55
238	Nigeria	NGA	55

Note: Figures rounded.

Most of the top 10 countries are similarly small-sized territories or countries.

However, Japan (#4), South Korea (#5), and Australia (#10) are the three top-10 countries with the highest life expectancies (84+) when accounting for a population of more than 20 million people.

Regionally, Western European countries have the highest life expectancies at birth. Their counterparts in Eastern Europe are a shade lower.

And despite Japan and South Korea’s performance, most Asians have life expectancies between 70–80 years. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Papua New Guinea are below the 70-year threshold.

However, several African countries have a below-60 life expectancy, a projected lifespan that is a full 20 years shorter than Western European residents.

Nigeria has the lowest average life expectancy at birth, at 55 years.

What Life Expectancy Numbers Mean for Individuals

Life expectancies are tricky things to fully comprehend: in that they change throughout a person’s lifespan and are measured for entire cohorts born in a year.

For example, in countries with lower projected expectancies, it doesn’t necessarily mean adults don’t live as long.

A high infant mortality rate for a particular cohort of babies born in a year could reduce the projected lifespan of the entire cohort. However once a baby from that year survives to adulthood, they may very well reach their 70s.

In fact, data shows that the biggest difference between life expectancies of Africa and high-income regions are for those before the age of 5 and after 60.

This is because both babies and older adults have a need for specific medical infrastructure which many Africans don’t have access to.

There is a strong correlation between wealth and longer lifespans. Check out Countries with the Highest GDP per Capita in 2024 to see similarities.