Life expectancy in Brazil reaches 76.4 years
Life expectancy fell after the Covid-19 pandemic, but is slowly rising again
A study released this week by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) found that life expectancy at birth in South America’s largest country is 76.4 years. Those born in 2023 can easily hope to live to 79.7 years for women, while men will live to an average age of 73.1, Agencia Brasil reported. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the overall forecast was 76.2 years.
In 2020, life expectancy at birth fell to 74.8 years and fell further to 72.8 years in 2021, a loss of 3.4 years from 2019. In 2022, life expectancy began to recover, reaching 75.4 years, but remained below the 2019 level. However, in 2023, life expectancy exceeded the 2019 estimate.
According to the IBGE’s forecasts for the coming decades, life expectancy will rise to 77.8 years by 2030, 79.7 years by 2040, 81.3 years by 2050, 82.7 years by 2060 and 83.9 years by 2070, the IBGE report continues.
“We have experienced an external shock in mortality due to the pandemic, which was evident in 2021 and 2022. However, we are now observing a return to the historical trend. We expect that life expectancy at birth will continue to increase over time and the gap between men and women will narrow, mainly due to a reduction in deaths from external causes,” explained IBGE researcher Cíntia Agostinho.
Increasing life expectancy combined with a declining birth rate is leading to an ageing population. According to IBGE, the proportion of elderly people (60 years or older) in Brazil has increased from 8.7% in 2000 to 15.6% in 2023.
By 2070, 37.8 percent of the country’s population is expected to be elderly, more than twice as many as today.
The average age of the population, which was 28.3 years in 2000, has increased to 35.5 years in 2023 and is expected to reach 48.4 years by 2070.
The infant mortality rate, which was 28.1 per thousand live births in 2000, decreased to 12.4 per thousand in 2022, with 13.4 for boys and 11.4 for girls. This rate is projected to continue to decline in the coming decades, reaching 5.8 per thousand by 2070, with 6.1 for boys and 5.4 for girls.
