Countries With the Fastest Growth in Female life expectancy (5-Year Change)

Name: Countries With the Fastest Growth in Female life expectancy (5-Year Change)
Creator: The World Bank
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Change in Female life expectancy over the five years to each country's latest year, in points (a share or rate is not shown as a % of itself). Only countries that rose are listed. Source: The World Bank (CC BY 4.0).

Summary

Central African Republic rose the most: by 20.8, from 38.8 years to 59.6 years in the five years to 2024. Eswatini is second (+4.56), followed by Namibia (+4.18). 192 countries rose over that period; the median change among them was +0.832.

#1: Central African Republic · +20.8
Median: +0.832
Coverage: 192 countries
Data year: 2024
Last updated: 2026-11-14

Top 10: 5-year change (years). Bar chart of the top 10: 1. Central African Republic 20.8; 2. Eswatini 4.56; 3. Namibia 4.18; 4. Bahamas, The 4.15; 5. Zambia 3.43; 6. Congo, Rep. 3.08; 7. Mozambique 3.01; 8. Sierra Leone 2.82; 9. Lesotho 2.76; 10. Chad 2.61.

Full ranking

Countries With the Fastest Growth in Female life expectancy (5-Year Change), 2024
Rank	Country	From	To	5-year change (years)
1	Central African Republic	38.8	59.6	+20.8
2	Eswatini	62.5	67.1	+4.56
3	Namibia	67.3	71.5	+4.18
4	Bahamas, The	74.2	78.3	+4.15
5	Zambia	65.4	68.9	+3.43
6	Congo, Rep.	64.6	67.7	+3.08
7	Mozambique	63.7	66.7	+3.01
8	Sierra Leone	60.9	63.7	+2.82
9	Lesotho	57.7	60.4	+2.76
10	Chad	54.6	57.2	+2.61
11	Cameroon	63.8	66.2	+2.4
12	Kuwait	83	85.4	+2.37
13	Malawi	68.4	70.8	+2.34
14	Seychelles	78.4	80.7	+2.3
15	Bangladesh	74.4	76.7	+2.27
16	Botswana	69.6	71.9	+2.27
17	Zimbabwe	63	65.3	+2.26
18	Guinea-Bissau	64.3	66.5	+2.24
19	Somalia, Fed. Rep.	59.3	61.6	+2.24
20	Uganda	69.1	71.4	+2.23
21	Armenia	79.5	81.7	+2.2
22	Ethiopia	68.9	71	+2.16
23	Congo, Dem. Rep.	62.2	64.2	+2.08
24	São Tomé and Principe	71.9	73.9	+2.04
25	Côte d'Ivoire	62.3	64.3	+2.02
26	Togo	61.2	63.2	+1.95
27	Suriname	75.1	77	+1.9
28	Djibouti	66.9	68.7	+1.88
29	Burundi	64	65.9	+1.85
30	Angola	65.5	67.3	+1.84
31	Gambia, The	65.9	67.8	+1.82
32	Equatorial Guinea	64.1	65.9	+1.74
33	Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	69.5	71.3	+1.73
34	Mali	60.4	62.2	+1.73
35	Peru	78.6	80.3	+1.72
36	Nigeria	53.2	54.9	+1.7
37	Afghanistan	66.1	67.8	+1.67
38	Samoa	72.2	73.8	+1.63
39	Ghana	66.6	68.2	+1.59
40	Eritrea	69.4	70.9	+1.58
41	India	72.3	73.9	+1.57
42	Guinea	60.5	62.1	+1.56
43	Comoros	67.7	69.2	+1.52
44	Yemen, Rep.	70.1	71.5	+1.49
45	Maldives	81.5	83	+1.49
46	Burkina Faso	61.9	63.4	+1.48
47	Gabon	69.8	71.2	+1.48
48	Niger	60.9	62.4	+1.46
49	Nepal	70.7	72.1	+1.44
50	Senegal	69.6	71	+1.44
51	Cayman Islands	81.6	83	+1.44
52	Latvia	80.1	81.5	+1.4
53	Timor-Leste	68.3	69.7	+1.39
54	Morocco	76.4	77.8	+1.39
55	Lao PDR	70.2	71.5	+1.37
56	Bhutan	73.9	75.3	+1.37
57	Benin	61.1	62.4	+1.35
58	Rwanda	68.8	70.1	+1.33
59	Guyana	72.8	74.1	+1.24
60	Mauritania	69.5	70.7	+1.21
61	Haiti	67.3	68.5	+1.2
62	Liberia	62.4	63.6	+1.19
63	Sudan	68.6	69.8	+1.18
64	Iraq	73	74.2	+1.17
65	Nicaragua	76.4	77.6	+1.16
66	Mongolia	76	77.1	+1.14
67	Panama	81.6	82.7	+1.14
68	Tuvalu	69.7	70.9	+1.13
69	Pakistan	69.2	70.3	+1.12
70	Jordan	79.2	80.3	+1.1
71	Tanzania	68.9	70	+1.08
72	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)	78.6	79.7	+1.08
73	Tunisia	78.3	79.3	+1.07
74	Bolivia	70.3	71.3	+1.06
75	Northern Mariana Islands	79.8	80.9	+1.05
76	Azerbaijan	76.2	77.3	+1.05
77	Moldova	74.6	75.7	+1.05
78	Indonesia	72.4	73.4	+1.05
79	Marshall Islands	68.4	69.5	+1.03
80	Guatemala	74	75	+1.03
81	Kenya	65.1	66.1	+1.02
82	Virgin Islands (US)	83.1	84.1	+1
83	Belize	75.7	76.7	+0.995
84	Iran, Islamic Rep.	78.8	79.8	+0.978
85	Tajikistan	73.2	74.1	+0.959
86	Saudi Arabia	80.4	81.3	+0.955
87	Honduras	74.7	75.7	+0.944
88	Colombia	79.7	80.6	+0.918
89	Kosovo	79.4	80.3	+0.918
90	Malaysia	78.6	79.5	+0.917
91	New Caledonia	80.5	81.4	+0.911
92	Myanmar	69.5	70.4	+0.9
93	Montenegro	79.5	80.4	+0.9
94	French Polynesia	85.8	86.6	+0.865
95	Sri Lanka	79.9	80.7	+0.858
96	Bermuda	85	85.9	+0.838
97	Kiribati	67.5	68.3	+0.826
98	Algeria	77.1	77.9	+0.821
99	Vanuatu	73.3	74.1	+0.821
100	Solomon Islands	71.4	72.2	+0.814

Showing the top 100 of 192. Premium downloads the full list as CSV or JSON.

About the top 10

#1 Central African Republic

Central African Republic ranks #1 on this list with +20.8.

Capital: Bangui
Continent: Africa
Income group: Low income
Population: 5.51 million people (2025)
GDP: US$3.07 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$556.1 (2025)
Life expectancy: 57.7 years (2024)
Urban population: 44.6% of population (2025)

Also ranks #1 in population ages 0-14 share · #1 in age dependency ratio · #1 in age dependency ratio (young).

Full country profile

#2 Eswatini

Eswatini ranks #2 on this list with +4.56.

Capital: Mbabane, Lobamba
Continent: Africa
Income group: Lower middle income
Population: 1.26 million people (2025)
GDP: US$5.16 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$4,108 (2025)
Life expectancy: 64.3 years (2024)
Urban population: 26.7% of population (2025)

Also ranks #1 in unemployment rate · #1 in hiv prevalence · #3 in youth unemployment rate.

Full country profile

#3 Namibia

Namibia ranks #3 on this list with +4.18.

Capital: Windhoek
Continent: Africa
Income group: Lower middle income
Population: 3.09 million people (2025)
GDP: US$15.08 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$4,876 (2025)
Life expectancy: 67.5 years (2024)
Urban population: 50.9% of population (2025)

Also ranks #1 in women in ministerial positions share · #2 in tax revenue share of gdp · #4 in education expenditure share of gdp.

Full country profile

#4 Bahamas, The

Bahamas, The ranks #4 on this list with +4.15.

Capital: Nassau
Continent: North America
Income group: High income
Population: 403,030 people (2025)
GDP: US$15.83 billion (2024)
GDP per person: US$39,455 (2024)
Life expectancy: 74.7 years (2024)
Urban population: 81.3% of population (2025)

Also ranks #6 in access to clean cooking fuels · #10 in homicide rate · #10 in cereal yield.

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#5 Zambia

Zambia ranks #5 on this list with +3.43.

Capital: Lusaka
Continent: Africa
Income group: Lower middle income
Population: 21.91 million people (2025)
GDP: US$28.88 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$1,318 (2025)
Life expectancy: 66.5 years (2024)
Urban population: 45.9% of population (2025)

Largest cities: Lusaka.

Also ranks #2 in mineral rents share of gdp · #3 in gini index · #4 in prevalence of undernourishment.

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#6 Congo, Rep.

Congo, Rep. ranks #6 on this list with +3.08.

Capital: Brazzaville
Continent: Africa
Income group: Lower middle income
Population: 6.48 million people (2025)
GDP: US$16.31 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$2,515 (2025)
Life expectancy: 66 years (2024)
Urban population: 64.1% of population (2025)

Largest cities: Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire.

Also ranks #3 in oil rents share of gdp · #4 in natural resource rents share of gdp · #7 in unemployment rate.

Full country profile

#7 Mozambique

Mozambique ranks #7 on this list with +3.01.

Capital: Maputo
Continent: Africa
Income group: Low income
Population: 35.63 million people (2025)
GDP: US$22.34 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$626.9 (2025)
Life expectancy: 63.8 years (2024)
Urban population: 37.2% of population (2025)

Largest cities: Maputo, Matola.

Also ranks #2 in poverty headcount ratio · #3 in income share of richest 10% · #4 in debt service share of exports.

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#8 Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone ranks #8 on this list with +2.82.

Capital: Freetown
Continent: Africa
Income group: Low income
Population: 8.82 million people (2025)
GDP: US$7.46 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$846.3 (2025)
Life expectancy: 62 years (2024)
Urban population: 45.9% of population (2025)

Also ranks #1 in school enrolment (primary) · #7 in under-5 mortality rate · #8 in forest rents share of gdp.

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#9 Lesotho

Lesotho ranks #9 on this list with +2.76.

Capital: Maseru
Continent: Africa
Income group: Lower middle income
Population: 2.36 million people (2025)
GDP: US$2.57 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$1,089 (2025)
Life expectancy: 57.8 years (2024)
Urban population: 44.7% of population (2025)

Also ranks #1 in tax revenue share of gdp · #1 in suicide mortality rate · #2 in agricultural land share.

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#10 Chad

Chad ranks #10 on this list with +2.61.

Capital: N'Djamena
Continent: Africa
Income group: Low income
Population: 21 million people (2025)
GDP: US$21.47 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$1,022 (2025)
Life expectancy: 55.2 years (2024)
Urban population: 27.6% of population (2025)

Largest cities: N'Djamena.

Also ranks #1 in fertility rate · #2 in birth rate · #2 in maternal mortality ratio.

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Profile facts: World Bank (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0); weather links go to Purr Weather, another ChowChow Labs site.

Source and method

Change in Female life expectancy over the five years to each country's latest year, in points (a share or rate is not shown as a % of itself). Only countries that rose are listed.

Source: The World Bank, indicator SP.DYN.LE00.FE.IN. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Retrieved: 2026-11-14.

The World Bank: Life expectancy at birth, female (years): World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Population Division (via World Development Indicators)

Original data provider, as recorded by the World Bank: World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Population Division; Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices, National Statistical Offices (NSOs); Demographic Statistics, Eurostat (ESTAT).

Values are shown as published (changes are computed from the published values). Provider terms: The World Bank. All licences: Sources & licences.

Summary

Full ranking

About the top 10

#1 Central African Republic

#2 Eswatini

#3 Namibia

#4 Bahamas, The

#5 Zambia

#6 Congo, Rep.

#7 Mozambique

#8 Sierra Leone

#9 Lesotho

#10 Chad

Related rankings

Source and method