Of the three most populous countries in the continent (Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt), Nigeria is the only country with life expectancy below 50 and below the continent’s average.
Within North Africa, Sudan has the lowest life expectancy. However, North African countries have the highest life expectancy numbers in the continent.
Of the top ten African countries with the highest life expectancy, 5 are from North Africa. Additionally, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco (all Northern Africa) have the highest life expectancy in the continent. There is no Southern African country in the top 10.
Aside Comoros, the Island nations within Africa have a higher expectancy than the continent’s average.
Three of the Island nations (Mauritius, Seychelles and Cape Verde) feature in the top 10 countries with highest life expectancy in Africa.
While the continent’s average life expectancy is 63, Central Africa and West Africa have 50% and 44% of countries with life expectancy below 60 respectively.
