Which has higher life expectancy, Bulgaria or Romania?

Romania, at 75.94 years against 75.64 years in Bulgaria as of 2023.

How many years of comparable data are there for Bulgaria and Romania?

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.

Bulgaria vs Romania: Life expectancy

Bulgaria

75.64 years

in 2023

Romania

75.94 years

in 2023

Bulgaria rank

115th

Romania rank

112th

Life expectancy over time

Bulgaria
Romania

How they compare

Romania currently reports 75.94 years against 75.64 years in Bulgaria, a difference of 0.3 years.

The two have swapped places 5 times across 74 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Bulgaria ahead.

Bulgaria ranks 115th and Romania ranks 112th of 236 countries.

Across the 8 decades both report, Bulgaria averaged higher in 6 and Romania in 2.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Bulgaria	Romania	Difference	Ahead
1950s	64.23 years	62.91 years	1.32 years	Bulgaria
1960s	70.5 years	67.53 years	2.97 years	Bulgaria
1970s	71.1 years	69.17 years	1.92 years	Bulgaria
1980s	71.31 years	69.54 years	1.77 years	Bulgaria
1990s	71.03 years	69.59 years	1.44 years	Bulgaria
2000s	72.58 years	71.82 years	0.756 years	Bulgaria
2010s	74.59 years	74.71 years	0.1198 years	Romania
2020s	73.67 years	74.5 years	0.8257 years	Romania

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher life expectancy, Bulgaria or Romania?: Romania, at 75.94 years against 75.64 years in Bulgaria as of 2023.
What is the difference in life expectancy between Bulgaria and Romania?: 0.3 years, with Romania ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Bulgaria and Romania?: 74 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2023.
How do Bulgaria and Romania rank globally for life expectancy?: Bulgaria ranks 115th and Romania ranks 112th 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: 06 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.