Which has higher life expectancy, Cuba or Uruguay?

Uruguay, at 78.14 years against 78.09 years in Cuba as of 2023.

What is the difference in life expectancy between Cuba and Uruguay?

0.05 years, with Uruguay ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Cuba and Uruguay?

79 years are reported by both, from 1900 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Life expectancy. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Cuba vs Uruguay: Life expectancy

Cuba

78.09 years

in 2023

Uruguay

78.14 years

in 2023

Cuba rank

74th

Uruguay rank

73rd

Life expectancy over time

Cuba
Uruguay

How they compare

Uruguay currently reports 78.14 years against 78.09 years in Cuba, a difference of 0.05 years.

The two have swapped places 4 times across 79 shared years of data; in 1900 it was Uruguay ahead.

Cuba ranks 74th and Uruguay ranks 73rd of 236 countries.

Across the 13 decades both report, Cuba averaged higher in 5 and Uruguay in 8.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Cuba	Uruguay	Difference	Ahead
1900s	32 years	49 years	17 years	Uruguay
1910s	36 years	52 years	16 years	Uruguay
1920s	39 years	52 years	13 years	Uruguay
1930s	42 years	50 years	8 years	Uruguay
1940s	45 years	58 years	13 years	Uruguay
1950s	60.89 years	66.58 years	5.69 years	Uruguay
1960s	65.36 years	68.15 years	2.8 years	Uruguay
1970s	70.14 years	69.59 years	0.5463 years	Cuba
1980s	73.42 years	71.76 years	1.66 years	Cuba
1990s	74.46 years	73.52 years	0.9391 years	Cuba
2000s	77.15 years	75.59 years	1.56 years	Cuba
2010s	77.74 years	77.14 years	0.5968 years	Cuba
2020s	76.58 years	77.11 years	0.5249 years	Uruguay

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher life expectancy, Cuba or Uruguay?: Uruguay, at 78.14 years against 78.09 years in Cuba as of 2023.
What is the difference in life expectancy between Cuba and Uruguay?: 0.05 years, with Uruguay ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Cuba and Uruguay?: 79 years are reported by both, from 1900 to 2023.
How do Cuba and Uruguay rank globally for life expectancy?: Cuba ranks 74th and Uruguay ranks 73rd of 236 countries.
Where does this data come from?: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Life expectancy. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Life expectancy
Unit: years
Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 236 places, 19,452 data points, 1543–2023
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Period life expectancy is the number of years the average person born in a certain year would live if they experienced the same chances of dying at each age as people did that year.