Which has higher life expectancy, Kenya or Zimbabwe?

Kenya, at 63.65 years against 62.77 years in Zimbabwe as of 2023.

How many years of comparable data are there for Kenya and Zimbabwe?

74 years are reported by both, from 1950 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.

Kenya vs Zimbabwe: Life expectancy

Kenya

63.65 years

in 2023

Zimbabwe

62.77 years

in 2023

Kenya rank

216th

Zimbabwe rank

219th

Life expectancy over time

Kenya
Zimbabwe

How they compare

Kenya currently reports 63.65 years against 62.77 years in Zimbabwe, a difference of 0.88 years.

The two have swapped places 3 times across 74 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Zimbabwe ahead.

Kenya ranks 216th and Zimbabwe ranks 219th of 236 countries.

Across the 8 decades both report, Kenya averaged higher in 5 and Zimbabwe in 3.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Kenya	Zimbabwe	Difference	Ahead
1950s	41.95 years	51.22 years	9.26 years	Zimbabwe
1960s	51.41 years	55.59 years	4.18 years	Zimbabwe
1970s	56.36 years	57.27 years	0.9114 years	Zimbabwe
1980s	60.23 years	60.13 years	0.1025 years	Kenya
1990s	56.44 years	52.01 years	4.43 years	Kenya
2000s	58.21 years	46.73 years	11.48 years	Kenya
2010s	62.07 years	57.71 years	4.36 years	Kenya
2020s	62.5 years	61.7 years	0.8041 years	Kenya

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher life expectancy, Kenya or Zimbabwe?: Kenya, at 63.65 years against 62.77 years in Zimbabwe as of 2023.
What is the difference in life expectancy between Kenya and Zimbabwe?: 0.88 years, with Kenya ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Kenya and Zimbabwe?: 74 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2023.
How do Kenya and Zimbabwe rank globally for life expectancy?: Kenya ranks 216th and Zimbabwe ranks 219th 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.