🇮🇸Life expectancy in Iceland

Key numbers

Iceland among its neighbours

Rough years remaining by age

This is a rough approximation. We do not have life tables for Iceland, so we subtract age from life expectancy at birth. Real remaining life expectancy is higher, especially at 50 and 60, because someone who has reached that age has already survived the risks of childhood and young adulthood. In high-income countries a 60-year-old typically has 4 to 6 more years than this table shows.

In plain language

A child born in Iceland today, if death rates at every age stayed exactly as they are, would live 82.7 years on average. Girls would get 3.5 more years than boys. That places Iceland 17th of the 200 countries we track, 9.5 years above the global figure of 73.2.

The gap to Hong Kong, the best in our data, is 2.8 years. Most of that difference comes from deaths before 60, not from how long the oldest people live.

Questions

What is the life expectancy in Iceland?

82.7 years at birth for both sexes combined, by the UN's 2024 estimate. Men can expect 81.0 years and women 84.5. The figure describes today's death rates applied across a whole life, so a child born now will probably live longer if mortality keeps falling.

How much longer do women live than men in Iceland?

3.5 years. The global figure gap is 5.4 years, so Iceland's gap is narrower than usual. Wide gaps usually trace back to male smoking, drinking and accidents; narrow ones to women facing similar risks or poorer maternal health.

How does Iceland compare to Hong Kong?

Hong Kong has the highest life expectancy in our data at 85.5 years, 2.8 years more than Iceland. For men the difference is 1.8 years, for women 3.6.

How does Iceland compare to United Arab Emirates?

United Arab Emirates ranks 16th at 82.9 years, 0.2 years more than Iceland. Men: 82.0 against 81.0. Women: 84.2 against 84.5.