Life expectancy at birth in Bangladesh reached a record 74.93 years in 2024.

Bangladesh's life expectancy at birth rose to 74.93 years in 2024, a record high, up from 74.67 years in 2023. This marks a modest year-on-year increase of 0.26 years, or 0.3 percent. The gain extends a longer-term trend: a decade ago, in 2014, life expectancy stood at 70.02 years, meaning the country has added 4.91 years over the past ten years, a 7.0 percent rise. Since 1960, when the figure was 43.98 years, the improvement has been dramatic, though the pace of gains has naturally slowed as the country approaches higher baseline longevity.

For policymakers, this sustained rise in life expectancy carries important implications. Longer lives are a testament to gains in child survival, nutrition, and basic healthcare access, yet they also shift the burden toward non-communicable disease management, elderly care, and pension adequacy. Health system planning must increasingly account for an aging population, with attention to chronic disease infrastructure and long-term care financing. The slowing rate of annual improvement suggests that further gains will require structural reforms in health delivery and preventive care, not just continued economic growth.

Data note. Life expectancy at birth is a modeled estimate derived from age-specific mortality data and is sensitive to underreporting of deaths, particularly in areas with incomplete civil registration systems.