Healthspan

Healthy life expectancy by country

Living longer is only half the story.

Life expectancy tells us how long people live. Healthy life expectancy (HALE) asks a different question: how many of those years are expected to be lived in full health? WHO calculates it by taking the life table and discounting years lived with illness or disability by how severe those states are estimated to be.

Data: WHO Global Health Observatory — Global Health Estimates, data year 2023. For the countries at the top and bottom of the ranking, see highest and lowest life expectancy by country; for why the healthy-years gap varies, see the healthspan gap.

This page compares the two, country by country, using WHO's population-level estimates at the only two ages WHO publishes both: at birth and at age 60. How this is calculated.

Two women, one in her seventies and one much younger, working side by side over a garden bed in afternoon sunlight. — Healthspan is a question about participation: how many years a person can expect to spend doing the ordinary things a day asks of them.

Life expectancy

Expected years of life, however they are lived.

Healthy life expectancy

Expected years of life in full health, under WHO's weighting method.

Subtracting one from the other gives WHO's health-adjusted population gap. It is not a personal prediction of years spent ill or disabled.

WHO dataset

Country

Sex

United States of America

78.5years
Life expectancy at birth: 64.6years
Healthy life expectancy at birth: 13.9years
Healthspan gap

United States of America, all, at birth. WHO Global Health Estimates, data year 2023.

At birth

Healthy years

Total years

Life expectancy: 78.5 years
Healthy life expectancy: 64.6 years
Difference: 13.9 years

Remaining years at age 60

Healthy years

Total years

Life expectancy: 23.3 years
Healthy life expectancy: 15.8 years
Difference: 7.5 years

The filled bar is healthy life expectancy; the lighter remainder is the rest of expected life. WHO publishes these two ages only, so no other age is shown — deriving one would mean inventing a value.

Compare countries and sexes

Comparison country

Comparison sex

Historical change in the same WHO release

Years at birth, recalculated within WHO's 2000–2023 release. Its revised 2021 observations are not the archived 2021-release figures used in earlier articles. Changes below never join those two releases.

Life expectancy and HALE history, WHO 2026 release
Country / sex	Year	Life expectancy	HALE	Gap
United States of America · both sexes	2000	76.7	64.5	12.2
United States of America · both sexes	2010	78.6	65.7	12.9
United States of America · both sexes	2019	78.8	65.3	13.5
United States of America · both sexes	2021	76.4	63.2	13.2
United States of America · both sexes	2023	78.5	64.6	13.9

Every country compared

Sorted by life expectancy at birth. Search to find a country.

Showing 185 of 185 countries. Swipe the table sideways to see all columns.

Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy at birth by country
#	Life expectancy	Healthy	Difference
1	83.9	72.2	11.7
2	83.8	71.2	12.6
3	83.6	71.4	12.2
4	83.6	72.0	11.6
5	83.6	72.9	10.7
6	83.3	71.2	12.1
7	83.0	69.5	13.5
8	82.9	71.2	11.7
9	82.9	70.6	12.3
10	82.7	70.4	12.3
11	82.7	70.2	12.5
12	82.6	71.0	11.6
13	82.5	70.0	12.5
14	82.5	70.8	11.7
15	82.4	70.2	12.2
16	82.3	69.5	12.8
17	82.2	69.9	12.3
18	82.1	70.3	11.8
19	82.0	70.3	11.7
20	81.9	69.8	12.1
21	81.9	69.8	12.1
22	81.8	69.9	11.9
23	81.8	69.8	12.0
24	81.6	68.8	12.8
25	81.4	67.9	13.5
26	81.4	69.2	12.2
27	81.3	68.7	12.6
28	81.1	69.0	12.1
29	81.1	69.4	11.7
30	81.0	69.1	11.9
31	80.8	69.3	11.5
32	80.7	68.0	12.7
33	80.7	68.2	12.5
34	80.6	68.6	12.0
35	80.2	68.2	12.0
36	79.8	67.1	12.7
37	79.7	68.0	11.7
38	79.7	67.5	12.2
39	79.4	69.6	9.8
40	79.3	68.3	11.0
41	79.3	67.8	11.5
42	79.3	67.3	12.0
43	79.1	67.4	11.7
44	78.9	66.5	12.4
45	78.7	67.2	11.5
46	78.6	67.3	11.3
47	78.5	66.0	12.5
48	78.5	64.6	13.9
49	78.4	66.7	11.7
50	78.4	67.1	11.3
51	78.2	66.7	11.5
52	78.1	66.9	11.2
53	78.1	67.8	10.3
54	78.0	67.1	10.9
55	77.9	68.0	9.9
56	77.8	66.5	11.3
57	77.7	65.6	12.1
58	77.7	66.2	11.5
59	77.6	66.5	11.1
60	77.4	65.4	12.0
61	77.3	66.1	11.2
62	77.2	66.4	10.8
63	77.2	66.2	11.0
64	77.2	66.5	10.7
65	77.1	66.2	10.9
66	77.0	66.4	10.6
67	76.7	66.0	10.7
68	76.3	66.7	9.6
69	76.2	65.9	10.3
70	76.2	66.0	10.2
71	76.2	66.0	10.2
72	76.2	66.6	9.6
73	76.2	65.1	11.1
74	75.9	63.8	12.1
75	75.7	65.2	10.5
76	75.6	65.4	10.2
77	75.5	65.2	10.3
78	75.5	66.1	9.4
79	75.4	64.0	11.4
80	75.3	65.0	10.3
81	75.3	63.1	12.2
82	75.2	65.0	10.2
83	75.2	64.6	10.6
84	75.1	64.6	10.5
85	75.1	65.1	10.0
86	74.8	64.6	10.2
87	74.7	63.8	10.9
88	74.7	64.6	10.1
89	74.7	64.6	10.1
90	74.6	65.5	9.1
91	74.3	65.5	8.8
92	74.0	64.1	9.9
93	74.0	64.6	9.4
94	73.7	62.4	11.3
95	73.6	63.6	10.0
96	73.6	61.3	12.3
97	73.5	63.8	9.7
98	73.4	62.7	10.7
99	73.3	62.7	10.6
100	73.3	62.5	10.8
101	73.1	62.8	10.3
102	73.0	63.3	9.7
103	72.9	63.3	9.6
104	72.7	62.4	10.3
105	72.7	63.7	9.0
106	72.6	62.7	9.9
107	72.4	62.2	10.2
108	72.3	61.9	10.4
109	72.2	61.9	10.3
110	72.2	61.8	10.4
111	72.1	63.0	9.1
112	72.1	62.1	10.0
113	71.9	61.7	10.2
114	71.9	61.6	10.3
115	71.6	60.5	11.1
116	71.6	62.3	9.3
117	71.6	61.2	10.4
118	71.5	61.4	10.1
119	71.5	61.6	9.9
120	71.2	62.3	8.9
121	71.0	60.6	10.4
122	70.9	61.4	9.5
123	70.4	62.0	8.4
124	69.9	59.8	10.1
125	69.7	61.8	7.9
126	69.6	60.7	8.9
127	69.4	60.6	8.8
128	69.3	60.8	8.5
129	69.3	60.5	8.8
130	69.1	58.9	10.2
131	69.0	60.0	9.0
132	68.7	59.6	9.1
133	68.6	59.4	9.2
134	68.6	57.9	10.7
135	68.5	59.3	9.2
136	68.3	59.2	9.1
137	68.2	58.4	9.8
138	67.8	59.0	8.8
139	67.7	58.7	9.0
140	67.6	58.1	9.5
141	67.6	58.9	8.7
142	67.4	57.7	9.7
143	67.4	57.8	9.6
144	67.2	59.1	8.1
145	66.7	58.4	8.3
146	66.7	58.1	8.6
147	66.6	57.6	9.0
148	66.2	57.5	8.7
149	66.0	56.2	9.8
150	65.7	56.8	8.9
151	65.7	56.9	8.8
152	65.3	55.9	9.4
153	65.3	56.4	8.9
154	65.3	56.4	8.9
155	65.2	57.4	7.8
156	65.2	56.2	9.0
157	65.0	55.7	9.3
158	65.0	56.4	8.6
159	64.7	55.8	8.9
160	64.6	55.8	8.8
161	64.6	55.2	9.4
162	64.5	53.3	11.2
163	64.4	56.4	8.0
164	64.4	55.2	9.2
165	64.3	56.0	8.3
166	64.1	55.5	8.6
167	64.0	54.3	9.7
168	63.8	55.0	8.8
169	63.4	54.2	9.2
170	62.9	54.1	8.8
171	62.6	54.2	8.4
172	62.4	53.6	8.8
173	62.3	54.5	7.8
174	62.1	53.1	9.0
175	61.7	52.7	9.0
176	61.4	52.7	8.7
177	61.2	52.8	8.4
178	61.2	53.1	8.1
179	61.0	52.8	8.2
180	60.4	52.6	7.8
181	60.4	52.5	7.9
182	59.1	51.1	8.0
183	55.6	48.6	7.0
184	55.3	47.9	7.4
185	52.7	44.7	8.0

Values shown in years. Highest life expectancy at the top. Maximum shown: 83.9 years.

Source, data year and method

WHO Global Health Observatory — Global Health Estimates · 2023 data · population-level estimates · retrieved 2026-10-21

HALE adjusts life expectancy for years lived in less than full health, weighted by the severity of health states in the Global Health Estimates.

WHOSIS_000001 — life expectancy at birth
WHOSIS_000015 — life expectancy at age 60
WHOSIS_000002 — healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth
WHOSIS_000007 — healthy life expectancy (HALE) at age 60
HALE is published at birth and at age 60 only. No HALE value is derived for any other age.

In plain English

Healthy life expectancy (HALE): Expected years of life, with time spent in illness or disability discounted by how severe those health states are estimated to be.Why it matters: It is the closest published measure to the idea of healthspan.
Healthspan gap: Life expectancy minus HALE, at the same age and from the same source.Why it matters: It cannot be compared between different ages, methods or agencies.