---
title: Longer lives
description: Life expectancy at birth in Gapminder's four world regions, 1950 to 2019.
version: 1.0.0
author: RichView example
date: 2026-11-07
styles: [sleek]
title_image:
  src: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1658909913848-1680f5d1af61?ixid=M3wxMTE0NDQ4fDB8MXxhbGx8fHx8fHx8fHwxNzk0MjMzMTAzfA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=1920&q=80&fm=jpg&fit=max
  alt: A small child's hand holding the finger of an older person's weathered hand
  caption: A younger hand holding an older hand.
  fit: cover
  width: 1920
  height: 768
  color: '#7b6c5b'
  credit:
    author: Loume Visser
    author_url: https://unsplash.com/@loumevisser?utm_source=daniel-ai-skills&utm_medium=referral
    source: Unsplash
    source_url: https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=daniel-ai-skills&utm_medium=referral
---

```chart
type: line
title: Every region gained at least 14 years
subtitle: The years a newborn could expect to live, by world region
data:
  csv: data/life-expectancy-by-region.csv
encoding: { x: year, y: life, color: region }
axes:
  x: { format: year }
  y: { label: Years, min: 40 }
style: { ratio: "2:1" }
annotations:
  - { kind: point, at: { x: 1960, y: 40.7 }, text: "Famine in China, 1959–61" }
```

*Source: Based on free material from [Gapminder](https://www.gapminder.org/data/), life expectancy at birth v15 (5 April 2026), regional averages weighted by population; [CC BY 4.0](https://www.gapminder.org/free-material/).*

A newborn in Asia could expect to live 46 years in 1950 and 75 years in 2019: a gain of 29 years, the most of any region. Africa gained 22 years, the Americas 17 and Europe, which started highest, 14. The world as a whole went from 52 to 74 years. The sharp dip in Asia around 1960 is the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–61.

Gapminder's regions are wide: its Asia includes Australia and the Pacific Islands, and its Europe all of Russia and Central Asia.

```table
title: Years gained, 1950 to 2019
data:
  inline:
    - { region: Asia, start: 45.6, end: 74.9, gain: 29.3 }
    - { region: Africa, start: 42.8, end: 65.2, gain: 22.4 }
    - { region: Americas, start: 60.8, end: 77.5, gain: 16.7 }
    - { region: Europe, start: 64.6, end: 78.8, gain: 14.2 }
columns:
  - { key: region, label: Region }
  - { key: start, label: "1950", align: right }
  - { key: end, label: "2019", align: right }
  - { key: gain, label: Years gained, align: right }
```

*Source: the chart's Gapminder data, at one decimal.*