Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 23, 2009 (Ezega.com) - Life expectancy rates for much of the world have steadily improved over the years. As may be expected, some regions did much better than others. The figure below shows life expectancy trends for Africa, Asia, and Western Europe. For Western Europe, between 1950 and 2008, life expectancy has gone up from below 70 years to over 80 years. The improvement has been even more dramatic in Asia. Between 1950 and 2005, life expectancy in Asia increased from about 40 years to 70 years.
In contrast, in much of Africa, the growth has stagnated or even declined since the mid 1980’s. Between 1992 and 2007, Southern Africa has seen its life expectancy rate decline from above 60 years to below 50 years, within a span of just 15 years. This may be largely due to the spread of HIV and, to some extent, due to regional conflicts.
For 2008, life expectancy for the total population in Ethiopia is 54.99 years, as per data obtained from CIA World Facts page. When broken down by sex, life expectancy for Ethiopian male is 52.54 years, and for Ethiopian female, it is 57.51 years.
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