The worldIn 1800 a newborn anywhere on Earth could expect 28.5 years. The line barely moves for a century: 29.7 in 1870, 32.0 in 1900. Then it climbs, to 46.4 in 1950 and 73.2 in 2023. Keep scrolling and the pen draws it year by year.
United KingdomThe longest record on the chart. The United Kingdom sat near 40 years for the first half of the century (40.0 in 1803, 42.8 in 1850), reached 45.6 by 1900, 68.6 by 1950, and 81.3 in 2023.
United StatesThe series begins in 1880 at 39.4 years, already below the United Kingdom's 43.0 that year. It crosses 45 by 1890 and 65 by 1945. In 2023 it stands at 79.3, two years under the United Kingdom.
FranceFrom 40.1 in 1816 to 83.3 in 2023, the second-highest line today. The French line falls in 1914, 1918, 1940 and 1944; the scroll will return to those years.
JapanSlow for sixty years, 36.4 in 1865, 38.6 in 1900, 42.0 in 1920. Then the steepest climb on the chart: 51.7 in 1947, 81.2 in 2000, 84.7 in 2023, the highest value of the eight.
IndiaThe lowest starting point: 25.4 in 1881 and 24.0 in 1905, with no point above 30 until 1935. By 1950 the line reads 41.2; by 2000, 62.7; in 2023, 72.0, 1.2 years under the world average.
ChinaThe series starts in 1930 at 32.0. It shows a collapse of its own: 47.2 in 1955, 33.4 in 1960, 53.0 in 1965. It reaches 72.3 in 2000 and 78.0 in 2023, above the world and India and below the United States.
NigeriaThe shortest series, from 1950, and the lowest line today: 35.5 in 1950, 47.1 in 2000, 54.5 in 2023. The gap to Japan at the right edge of the chart is thirty years of life.
The twentieth centuryPull the axes in to 1900 and later and the smooth climb turns out to have three sharp dents. Each is a year in which the number fell, and the next three stops measure them.
1918Three lines drop in the same year, the year of the influenza pandemic. The United States falls from 54.0 to 47.2, the United Kingdom from 54.2 to 47.3, France from 43.0 to 34.8. All three recover the following year.
1939 to 1945France falls from 59.5 in 1939 to 49.6 in 1940 and again to 47.2 in 1944; the United Kingdom dips to 60.9 in 1940. Japan's series has no points between 1935 and 1945 and resumes at 30.5. The United States line stays between 63.1 and 65.6 across the same years, with no fall larger than a tenth.
2020 to 2021The world average falls for two years running, from 72.6 in 2019 to 70.9 in 2021, the first time it has fallen two years running since 1959 and 1960. The United States drops to 76.4, India to 67.3. Japan moves by less than a year, and by 2023 every line is back at or above its 2019 value, the United Kingdom within a tenth.
2023Today's values, printed at the ends of the lines. The spread from Nigeria to Japan is 30.2 years. The world average, 73.2, sits where the United Kingdom was in 1979.