Life expectancy in Western Sahara

Western Sahara: Life expectancy was 71.39 years in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
71.39 years
Change on year
up 0.3%
World rank
160th
of 236 countries
All-time high
71.39 years
in 2023
All-time low
34.93 years
in 1950
Years of data
74
1950–2023

Life expectancy in Western Sahara, 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

In 2023, life expectancy in Western Sahara stood at 71.39 years. That is the highest value across all 74 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.3% on the previous year and up 4.0% over ten years.

Over the whole period, life expectancy in Western Sahara peaked at 71.39 years in 2023 and was at its lowest, 34.93 years, in 1950.

That places Western Sahara 160th out of 236 countries with data for 2023, putting it 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 36.61 years 34.93 years 38.32 years 10
1960s 40.41 years 38.7 years 42.19 years 10
1970s 40.67 years 35.96 years 44.95 years 10
1980s 47.05 years 39.4 years 52.09 years 10
1990s 59.97 years 57.66 years 62.23 years 10
2000s 64.93 years 62.73 years 67.06 years 10
2010s 69.05 years 67.49 years 70.38 years 10
2020s 71.01 years 70.61 years 71.39 years 4

Countries ranked near Western Sahara

  1. 157 Egypt 71.63 years compare
  2. 158 Jamaica 71.48 years compare
  3. 159 Vanuatu 71.48 years compare
  4. 161 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 71.23 years compare
  5. 162 Moldova 71.2 years compare
  6. 163 Indonesia 71.15 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More health data for Western Sahara

All data for Western Sahara →

Frequently asked questions

What is life expectancy in Western Sahara?
Life expectancy in Western Sahara was 71.39 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 recorded in Western Sahara?
The highest recorded value was 71.39 years in 2023.
What is the lowest life expectancy recorded in Western Sahara?
The lowest recorded value was 34.93 years in 1950.
How does Western Sahara rank for life expectancy?
Western Sahara ranks 160th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is life expectancy rising or falling in Western Sahara?
Over the last ten years it is up 4.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Western Sahara 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. 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
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.