Life expectancy for people of different ages in Malaysia

Malaysia: Life expectancy for people of different ages was 76.66 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
76.66 years
Change on year
up 1.6%
World rank
100th
of 236 countries
All-time high
76.66 years
in 2023
All-time low
48.49 years
in 1950
Years of data
74
1950–2023

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

020406080195019862023

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

Analysis

The most recent figure for life expectancy for people of different ages in Malaysia is 76.66 years, measured in 2023. That is the highest value across all 74 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.6% on the previous year and up 1.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, life expectancy for people of different ages in Malaysia peaked at 76.66 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 48.49 years, in 1950.

Malaysia ranks 100th of 236 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

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

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 52.37 years 48.49 years 56.31 years 10
1960s 60.43 years 57.17 years 62.87 years 10
1970s 65.47 years 63.3 years 67.61 years 10
1980s 69.58 years 68.06 years 70.76 years 10
1990s 71.84 years 70.95 years 72.43 years 10
2000s 74.15 years 72.73 years 75.27 years 10
2010s 75.51 years 75.29 years 75.9 years 10
2020s 75.52 years 73.92 years 76.66 years 4

Countries ranked near Malaysia

  1. 97 Saint Helena 76.79 years compare
  2. 98 Serbia 76.77 years compare
  3. 99 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 76.76 years compare
  4. 101 Tunisia 76.51 years compare
  5. 102 Thailand 76.41 years compare
  6. 103 Sint Maarten (Dutch part) 76.37 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for Malaysia

All data for Malaysia →

Frequently asked questions

What is life expectancy for people of different ages in Malaysia?
Life expectancy for people of different ages in Malaysia was 76.66 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 Malaysia?
The highest recorded value was 76.66 years in 2023.
What is the lowest life expectancy for people of different ages recorded in Malaysia?
The lowest recorded value was 48.49 years in 1950.
How does Malaysia rank for life expectancy for people of different ages?
Malaysia ranks 100th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is life expectancy for people of different ages rising or falling in Malaysia?
Over the last ten years it is up 1.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Malaysia 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.