Statizoid

Life expectancy in Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome and Principe: Life expectancy was 69.72 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
69.72 years
Change on year
up 0.7%
World rank
173rd
of 236 countries
All-time high
69.72 years
in 2023
All-time low
39.12 years
in 1953
Years of data
74
1950–2023

Life expectancy in Sao Tome and Principe, 1950–2023

0204060195019862023

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

Analysis

The most recent figure for life expectancy in Sao Tome and Principe is 69.72 years, measured in 2023. That is the highest value across all 74 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.7% on the previous year and up 7.4% over ten years.

Over the whole period, life expectancy in Sao Tome and Principe peaked at 69.72 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 39.12 years, in 1953.

Sao Tome and Principe ranks 173rd 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.

Life expectancy in Sao Tome and Principe, year by year

Year years Change
1950 39.13 years —
1951 39.13 years -0.0%
1952 39.14 years +0.0%
1953 39.12 years -0.1%
1954 39.16 years +0.1%
1955 39.28 years +0.3%
1956 39.54 years +0.7%
1957 40.1 years +1.4%
1958 40.96 years +2.1%
1959 42.11 years +2.8%
1960 43.56 years +3.4%
1961 45.19 years +3.7%
1962 46.84 years +3.7%
1963 48.4 years +3.3%
1964 49.74 years +2.8%
1965 51.07 years +2.7%
1966 52.31 years +2.4%
1967 53.45 years +2.2%
1968 54.49 years +2.0%
1969 55.4 years +1.7%
1970 56.27 years +1.6%
1971 56.96 years +1.2%
1972 57.45 years +0.8%
1973 57.9 years +0.8%
1974 58.26 years +0.6%
1975 58.56 years +0.5%
1976 58.78 years +0.4%
1977 58.98 years +0.3%
1978 59.14 years +0.3%
1979 59.27 years +0.2%
1980 59.36 years +0.1%
1981 59.43 years +0.1%
1982 59.53 years +0.2%
1983 59.68 years +0.2%
1984 59.89 years +0.4%
1985 60.14 years +0.4%
1986 57.6 years -4.2%
1987 60.66 years +5.3%
1988 60.81 years +0.2%
1989 59.73 years -1.8%
1990 60.71 years +1.6%
1991 60.79 years +0.1%
1992 60.71 years -0.1%
1993 60.62 years -0.1%
1994 60.55 years -0.1%
1995 60.54 years -0.0%
1996 60.58 years +0.1%
1997 60.65 years +0.1%
1998 60.79 years +0.2%
1999 60.98 years +0.3%
2000 61.21 years +0.4%
2001 61.5 years +0.5%
2002 61.83 years +0.5%
2003 62.16 years +0.5%
2004 62.56 years +0.6%
2005 62.43 years -0.2%
2006 63.04 years +1.0%
2007 63.34 years +0.5%
2008 63.45 years +0.2%
2009 63.67 years +0.3%
2010 63.87 years +0.3%
2011 64.12 years +0.4%
2012 64.51 years +0.6%
2013 64.93 years +0.7%
2014 65.48 years +0.8%
2015 66.02 years +0.8%
2016 66.56 years +0.8%
2017 67.07 years +0.8%
2018 67.6 years +0.8%
2019 68.04 years +0.7%
2020 67.98 years -0.1%
2021 68.03 years +0.1%
2022 69.24 years +1.8%
2023 69.72 years +0.7%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 39.77 years 39.12 years 42.11 years 10
1960s 50.05 years 43.56 years 55.4 years 10
1970s 58.16 years 56.27 years 59.27 years 10
1980s 59.68 years 57.6 years 60.81 years 10
1990s 60.69 years 60.54 years 60.98 years 10
2000s 62.52 years 61.21 years 63.67 years 10
2010s 65.82 years 63.87 years 68.04 years 10
2020s 68.74 years 67.98 years 69.72 years 4

Countries ranked near Sao Tome and Principe

  1. 170 Greenland 70.06 years compare
  2. 171 Niue 69.98 years compare
  3. 172 Philippines 69.83 years compare
  4. 174 Libya 69.34 years compare
  5. 175 Yemen 69.3 years compare
  6. 176 Palau 69.27 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for Sao Tome and Principe

All data for Sao Tome and Principe →

Frequently asked questions

What is life expectancy in Sao Tome and Principe?
Life expectancy in Sao Tome and Principe was 69.72 years in 2023, according to Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data.
What is the highest life expectancy recorded in Sao Tome and Principe?
The highest recorded value was 69.72 years in 2023.
What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in Sao Tome and Principe?
The lowest recorded value was 39.12 years in 1953.
How does Sao Tome and Principe rank for life expectancy?
Sao Tome and Principe ranks 173rd out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is life expectancy rising or falling in Sao Tome and Principe?
Over the last ten years it is up 7.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Sao Tome and Principe data come from?
The figures come from Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Life expectancy. 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).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Life expectancy in Sao Tome and Principe. Statizoid, drawing on Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data. Retrieved 30 August 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/stat/life-expectancy-hmd-unwpp/sao-tome-and-principe/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://health.statizoid.com/stat/life-expectancy-hmd-unwpp/sao-tome-and-principe/">Life expectancy in Sao Tome and Principe</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Life expectancy
Unit
years
Source
Human Mortality Database (2025); UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed 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

Period life expectancy at birth among totals, in a given year.