🇵🇬Life expectancy in Papua New Guinea

Key numbers

Papua New Guinea among its neighbours

Rough years remaining by age

This is a rough approximation. We do not have life tables for Papua New Guinea, 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 Papua New Guinea today, if death rates at every age stayed exactly as they are, would live 66.1 years on average. Girls would get 5.4 more years than boys. That places Papua New Guinea 166th of the 200 countries we track, 7.1 years below the global figure of 73.2.

The gap to Hong Kong, the best in our data, is 19.4 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 Papua New Guinea?

66.1 years at birth for both sexes combined, by the UN's 2024 estimate. Men can expect 63.7 years and women 69.1. 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 Papua New Guinea?

5.4 years. The global figure gap is 5.4 years, so Papua New Guinea's gap is about typical. Wide gaps usually trace back to male smoking, drinking and accidents; narrow ones to women facing similar risks or poorer maternal health.

How does Papua New Guinea compare to Hong Kong?

Hong Kong has the highest life expectancy in our data at 85.5 years, 19.4 years more than Papua New Guinea. For men the difference is 19.1 years, for women 19.0.

How does Papua New Guinea compare to Zambia?

Zambia ranks 165th at 66.3 years, 0.2 years more than Papua New Guinea. Men: 63.9 against 63.7. Women: 68.7 against 69.1.