The United Nations’ (UN) latest global health report for 2025 has ranked Nigeria as the country with the lowest life expectancy globally.
The report places Nigeria’s average life expectancy at 54.9 years, marking it the lowest in the world.
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The figure falls significantly below Africa’s continental average and less than three-quarters of the global benchmark of 73.7 years.
According to the data, Nigerian men live an average of 54.3 years, while women reach about 54.9 years.
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For comparison, Chad and the Central African Republic barely fare better, with life expectancies of 55.2 and 57.7 years, respectively.
What life expectancy means
Life expectancy is the average number of years a person is expected to live based on current mortality patterns.
It is a key indicator of a country’s overall health, reflecting the quality of healthcare, living conditions, nutrition, and socio-economic wellbeing of its population.
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A higher life expectancy suggests that citizens are living longer, healthier lives.
A lower figure, as in Nigeria’s case, points to persistent health and development challenges.
Life expectancy stagnates since 2019
In 2019, a similar UN report placed Nigeria’s life expectancy at around 55 years, ranking it the third lowest in the world at the time.
The latest figure therefore shows virtually no improvement over six years ,and a further slip in global ranking as other countries made steady gains.
The UN agency’s earlier report also showed that Nigeria’s population grew sharply over the decades, rising from 54.7 million in 1969 to 105.4 million in 1994, and reaching 201.0 million in 2019. Of this figure, 44 per cent of Nigerians were aged 0 to 14 years, while 32 per cent fell within the 10 to 24-year age range, a demographic structure that underscores the heavy pressure on healthcare, education, and employment systems.
Experts have linked Nigeria’s dismal ranking to long-standing problems such as a high burden of infectious diseases, limited access to quality care, and recurring industrial actions by health workers.
They also point to broader socio-economic issues, including widespread poverty, insecurity, malnutrition, and environmental degradation, that continue to undermine citizens’ health outcomes and quality of life.
Calls for urgent intervention
The UN report comes amid growing concerns about widening global health inequalities.
Public health advocates have urged the Nigerian government and its international partners to scale up investments in healthcare infrastructure, expand access to essential services, and address the underlying socio-economic causes of poor health outcomes.
They warn that unless Nigeria confronts these deep-rooted structural problems, its population will remain among the world’s most vulnerable.
The report further stresses that Nigeria’s situation is not merely a medical crisis but a warning sign of stalled social and economic development.
As global leaders prepare for upcoming health and development summits, experts say Nigeria’s record-low life expectancy should serve as a wake-up call for urgent and coordinated reforms.
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