Sometimes our birthdays don’t only remind us of our day(s) of birth; they remind us also of how close or far we are (statistically) to the end of our lives.
On my last birthday, I did a regretful thing by checking up data on life expectancy for Nigerians and what I saw was really shocking. It was both traumatising and terrifying to realise that at the age of 32, I had just about 22 more years to live, statistically.
As a religious, my first reaction was to roundly reject the statistics on life expectancy by declaring (like the Nigerian Christian would do) that it was not my portion.
I mean, at 32, I don’t think I have lived enough to envisage the possibility of death in the next two decades. Like many young Africans of my age, I am still chasing my dreams (I never ‘chop’ life). I have no established business anywhere. No wife. No kids. Ha, it was hard to concede to any possibility of death anytime soon. At least, not yet.
Unfortunately for me, statistics, like they say, don’t lie. If the statistics say that majority of the Homo sapiens in my country will die before the age of 55, I should be worried. I should be worried not because I can’t be an exception to the prediction but because not so many people will be that lucky to defy the projection.
As I thought about this, I remembered, much to my sadness, that my dad died at the age of 54 (the same age the statistics project that most Nigerians would die). I also remembered some of my loved ones – brother, friends, uncles, aunts, etc – who died before clocking 60. Of course I know that I am blessed with some friends and relatives who have lived above 55 but are they really in the majority?
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Sadly enough, Nigeria is not the only African state with low life expectancy. A data prepared by the World Population Prospects (a unit of the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs) pegs many African states at the bottom of global life expectancy ranking. In fact, the bottom 25 states with the lowest life expectancy rating are all from Africa, including Nigeria and Chad who lead the chart from the bottom with 54 and 55 years life expectancy, respectively. Below is the list of the 25 states at the bottom of the list and their respective life expectancy:
| Countries | Life expectancy for both sexes |
| Nigeria | 54 years |
| Chad | 55 years |
| Central African Republic, South Sudan, Lesotho | 57 years |
| Somalia | 58 years |
| Mali, Guinea and Benin | 60 years |
| Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone | 61 years |
| Ivory Coast, Liberia and Togo | 62 years |
| Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon | 63 years |
| Guinea-Bissau, Eswatini and Angola | 64 years |
Only about 9 African states have a life expectancy of 70+ with the highest being Tunisia and Algeria with life expectancy of 76 years each. The rest like Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda, Rwanda, etc. fall within the bracket of 65 – 67 years in the life expectancy statistics.
Compared to the rest of the world, Africa’s life expectancy is very poor. Asian and European states dominate the top of the chart with Hong Kong leading with 85 years life expectancy, followed by other Asian and European countries like Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Spain, etc. No African state features anywhere from position 1 to position 75 in the chart. Out of the list of 200 states, African best performers – Tunisia and Algeria – only managed to occupy positions/numbers 77 and 80, respectively.
The question is, why the short-life expectancy for Africans? The reason is not far-fetched. Africa has high mortality rate. Every year, international organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO) raise alarm about the number of Africans who die on a daily due to diseases, malnutrition and starvation. Others die from environmental disasters like flood while thousands of people are killed yearly by wars, terrorism, homicide and other killings.
It is from these records of death (particularly those caused by natural phenomenon like diseases and malnutrition) that experts who work with organisations like World Population Prospects or the WHO prepare their projections on the average life expectancy for each of the African states.
Thus, until we ensure a healthier environment, deal with the spread of disease and improve our dietary, we Africans will continue to live with this scary thought of not living above the life expectancy of our respective states.
