Life expectancy for people of different ages in Gambia

Gambia: Life expectancy for people of different ages was 65.86 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
65.86 years
Change on year
up 1.5%
World rank
205th
of 236 countries
All-time high
65.86 years
in 2023
All-time low
31.16 years
in 1950
Years of data
74
1950–2023

Life expectancy for people of different ages in Gambia, 1950–2023

0204060195019862023

Source: Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.

Analysis

Gambia recorded 65.86 years for life expectancy for people of different ages in 2023. That is the highest value across all 74 years on record.

The figure is up 1.5% on the previous year and up 5.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, life expectancy for people of different ages in Gambia peaked at 65.86 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 31.16 years, in 1950.

That places Gambia 205th out of 236 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.

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

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 32.44 years 31.16 years 34.09 years 10
1960s 36.82 years 34.57 years 39 years 10
1970s 41.94 years 39.53 years 44.52 years 10
1980s 47.73 years 44.49 years 50.72 years 10
1990s 53.94 years 51.28 years 56.47 years 10
2000s 58.89 years 56.9 years 60.73 years 10
2010s 62.8 years 61.17 years 64.43 years 10
2020s 64.75 years 63.85 years 65.86 years 4

Countries ranked near Gambia

  1. 202 Papua New Guinea 66.13 years compare
  2. 203 Afghanistan 66.03 years compare
  3. 204 Djibouti 65.99 years compare
  4. 206 Congo 65.77 years compare
  5. 207 Ghana 65.5 years compare
  6. 208 Palestine 65.17 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for Gambia

All data for Gambia →

Frequently asked questions

What is life expectancy for people of different ages in Gambia?
Life expectancy for people of different ages in Gambia was 65.86 years in 2023, according to Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest life expectancy for people of different ages recorded in Gambia?
The highest recorded value was 65.86 years in 2023.
What is the lowest life expectancy for people of different ages recorded in Gambia?
The lowest recorded value was 31.16 years in 1950.
How does Gambia rank for life expectancy for people of different ages?
Gambia ranks 205th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is life expectancy for people of different ages rising or falling in Gambia?
Over the last ten years it is up 5.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Gambia data come from?
The figures come from Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy for people of 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
Life expectancy for people of different ages
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

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.