Sex gap in life expectancy at different ages in Lesotho

Lesotho: Sex gap in life expectancy at different ages was 5.09 years in 2023. ▼ Falling

Latest (2023)
5.09 years
Change on year
up 1.2%
World rank
103rd
of 236 countries
All-time high
8.51 years
in 1986
All-time low
2.7 years
in 2006
Years of data
74
1950–2023

Sex gap in life expectancy at different ages in Lesotho, 1950–2023

2468195019862023

Source: Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.

Analysis

In 2023, sex gap in life expectancy at different ages in Lesotho stood at 5.09 years.

That represents a change of up 1.2% on the previous year and up 14.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, sex gap in life expectancy at different ages in Lesotho peaked at 8.51 years in 1986 and was at its lowest, 2.7 years, in 2006.

That places Lesotho 103rd out of 236 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 74 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 6.28 years 6.11 years 6.45 years 10
1960s 7.06 years 6.58 years 7.64 years 10
1970s 7.82 years 7.46 years 8.4 years 10
1980s 8.28 years 8.08 years 8.51 years 10
1990s 6.84 years 4.77 years 8.01 years 10
2000s 3.93 years 2.7 years 4.32 years 10
2010s 4.47 years 4.07 years 4.67 years 10
2020s 4.98 years 4.89 years 5.09 years 4

Countries ranked near Lesotho

  1. 100 British Virgin Islands 5.18 years compare
  2. 101 Tunisia 5.09 years compare
  3. 102 Papua New Guinea 5.09 years compare
  4. 104 Niue 5.04 years compare
  5. 105 Argentina 5.01 years compare
  6. 106 Greece 5 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for Lesotho

All data for Lesotho →

Frequently asked questions

What is sex gap in life expectancy at different ages in Lesotho?
Sex gap in life expectancy at different ages in Lesotho was 5.09 years in 2023, according to Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest sex gap in life expectancy at different ages recorded in Lesotho?
The highest recorded value was 8.51 years in 1986.
What is the lowest sex gap in life expectancy at different ages recorded in Lesotho?
The lowest recorded value was 2.7 years in 2006.
How does Lesotho rank for sex gap in life expectancy at different ages?
Lesotho ranks 103rd out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is sex gap in life expectancy at different ages rising or falling in Lesotho?
Over the last ten years it is up 14.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Lesotho data come from?
The figures come from Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Sex gap in life expectancy at different ages. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 74 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Sex gap in life expectancy at different ages
Unit
years
Source
Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
236 places, 18,722 data points, 1751–2023
Last refreshed

The difference in period life expectancy (females - males) at a given age.