Life expectancy – Likely age at death
Average age that an organism lives to.
The map shows the highest and lowest average life expectancy of different US states. New York state has the highest life expectancy at 81.5 years, while Mississippi has the lowest at 75 years.
Examples
Bacteria are generally considered to have a life expectancy of around 12 hours although different species can have life expectancies that range from 12 minutes to slightly over 24 hours. It is this short life cycle along with their asexual reproduction that enables bacteria to rapidly evolve resistance to drugs.
The life expectancy for dogs is usually between 8 and 12 years depending on the breed. Unlike animals in general where large animals tend to live longer lives than small ones, the life expectancy of dog breeds is longest for the smaller breeds and shortest for the larger breeds.
Human life expectancy is on average 71 years. However, there is a large degree of variation between the average life expectancy of people based on where they live. Japan has the highest average life expectancy at 84 years while Sierra Leone has an average life expectancy of just 50 years. The life expectancy of women is usually longer than that of men in most nations.
The bowhead whale is thought to be the longest-lived mammal with a life expectancy of more than 200 years.
The arctic clam is the longest-lived animal, with a life expectancy of over 400 years. One example named Ming was 507 years old.
