The World Bank Group collected life expectancy at birth data by country through 2024, and the rankings are stark.
Monaco has the highest life expectancy in the world. France, despite Jeanne Calment's record of 122 years, ranks 19th. The US ranks 47th in the dataset, with an average life expectancy of 78.9 years.
The countries at the top tend to be wealthier, with robust healthcare systems and lower rates of early-life mortality. The countries at the bottom are all located in Africa, where disease, malnutrition, and conflict often weigh on outcomes. High mortality among infants and children, along with healthcare shortages, significantly lowers life expectancy at birth across the continent.
The World Bank Group used statistics from sources including the United Nations and national statistical office databases. Business Insider said it did not include autonomous regions and territories listed in the data. It also noted that the 2024 estimates are interpolated across five-year periods, so they may not reflect events in that year that affected mortality rates, such as conflict or famine.
For founders and operators, the pattern is simple: better systems produce better outcomes. Life expectancy tracks with wealth, healthcare capacity, and basic stability, which is why the countries with stronger institutions sit at the top of the table. The countries paying the price are the ones where preventable mortality, shortages, and disruption still overwhelm the ordinary work of public health.
That is the policy lesson behind the ranking. When governments fail on health, order, and early-life survival, families absorb the cost and the economy loses years of human potential. When they get those basics right, people live longer and societies get more room to build, invest, and grow.
