Which has higher life expectancy, Canada or Ireland?

Canada, at 82.63 years against 82.41 years in Ireland as of 2023.

How many years of comparable data are there for Canada and Ireland?

80 years are reported by both, from 1901 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.

Canada vs Ireland: Life expectancy

Canada

82.63 years

in 2023

Ireland

82.41 years

in 2023

Canada rank

26th

Ireland rank

28th

Life expectancy over time

Canada
Ireland

How they compare

Canada currently reports 82.63 years against 82.41 years in Ireland, a difference of 0.22 years.

The two have swapped places 5 times across 80 shared years of data; in 1901 it was Ireland ahead.

Canada ranks 26th and Ireland ranks 28th of 236 countries.

Across the 13 decades both report, Canada averaged higher in 10 and Ireland in 3.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Canada	Ireland	Difference	Ahead
1900s	48.63 years	49.4 years	0.766 years	Ireland
1910s	52.51 years	53.8 years	1.29 years	Ireland
1920s	57.95 years	57.6 years	0.35 years	Canada
1930s	62.65 years	58.9 years	3.75 years	Canada
1940s	65.08 years	60.7 years	4.38 years	Canada
1950s	69.55 years	67.81 years	1.74 years	Canada
1960s	71.67 years	70.41 years	1.26 years	Canada
1970s	73.54 years	71.52 years	2.02 years	Canada
1980s	76.23 years	73.58 years	2.64 years	Canada
1990s	78.08 years	75.59 years	2.49 years	Canada
2000s	80.1 years	78.53 years	1.57 years	Canada
2010s	81.82 years	81.45 years	0.374 years	Canada
2020s	81.88 years	82.18 years	0.3009 years	Ireland

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher life expectancy, Canada or Ireland?: Canada, at 82.63 years against 82.41 years in Ireland as of 2023.
What is the difference in life expectancy between Canada and Ireland?: 0.22 years, with Canada ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Canada and Ireland?: 80 years are reported by both, from 1901 to 2023.
How do Canada and Ireland rank globally for life expectancy?: Canada ranks 26th and Ireland ranks 28th 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.