Which has higher life expectancy, France or Norway?

France, at 83.33 years against 83.31 years in Norway as of 2023.

How many years of comparable data are there for France and Norway?

178 years are reported by both, from 1846 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.

France vs Norway: Life expectancy

France

83.33 years

in 2023

Norway

83.31 years

in 2023

France rank

17th

Norway rank

18th

Life expectancy over time

France
Norway

How they compare

France currently reports 83.33 years against 83.31 years in Norway, a difference of 0.02 years.

The two have swapped places 13 times across 178 shared years of data; in 1846 it was Norway ahead.

France ranks 17th and Norway ranks 18th of 236 countries.

Across the 19 decades both report, France averaged higher in 3 and Norway in 16.

Head to head by decade

Decade	France	Norway	Difference	Ahead
1840s	39.36 years	46.47 years	7.11 years	Norway
1850s	39.76 years	49.97 years	10.22 years	Norway
1860s	41.63 years	48.06 years	6.43 years	Norway
1870s	41.33 years	49.71 years	8.38 years	Norway
1880s	43.57 years	50.39 years	6.83 years	Norway
1890s	45.2 years	51.6 years	6.4 years	Norway
1900s	48.03 years	55.78 years	7.75 years	Norway
1910s	44.2 years	57 years	12.81 years	Norway
1920s	54.29 years	61.96 years	7.67 years	Norway
1930s	58.15 years	65.67 years	7.52 years	Norway
1940s	57.69 years	67.96 years	10.28 years	Norway
1950s	68.15 years	73.04 years	4.9 years	Norway
1960s	71.02 years	73.67 years	2.65 years	Norway
1970s	72.95 years	74.79 years	1.84 years	Norway
1980s	75.33 years	76.1 years	0.7679 years	Norway
1990s	77.8 years	77.69 years	0.103 years	France
2000s	80.17 years	79.87 years	0.2979 years	France
2010s	82.16 years	82.05 years	0.1114 years	France
2020s	82.58 years	83.07 years	0.4945 years	Norway

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher life expectancy, France or Norway?: France, at 83.33 years against 83.31 years in Norway as of 2023.
What is the difference in life expectancy between France and Norway?: 0.02 years, with France ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for France and Norway?: 178 years are reported by both, from 1846 to 2023.
How do France and Norway rank globally for life expectancy?: France ranks 17th and Norway ranks 18th 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.