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Five (5) Reasons for Low Life Expectancy in Nigeria

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INTRO: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines life expectancy at birth as "the average number of years that a newborn could expect to live if he or she were to pass through life exposed to the sex- and age-specific death rates prevailing at the time of his or her birth, for a specific year, in a given country, territory, or geographic area." In simpler terms, it is the average number of years a person is likely to live in a country if the prevailing death rates at each age remain the same over time (Akande in Ogundepo 2025). The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) similarly defines life expectancy at birth as how long, on average, a newborn can expect to live, if current death rates do not change (OECD, 2020, as cited in Onwube et al., 2021). Furthermore, Sede and Ohemeng (2015) described it as the measure of the length of life expected to be lived by an individual at birth. No wonder Sharma (2018) noted that it is the most widely used indicator of population health. This is to say as Bilas et al. (2014) puts it, that it is an important synthetic indicator for assessing the economic and social development of a country.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation, with over 220 million people, abundant natural resources, but paradoxically poor health outcomes. According to the World Bank (2023), Nigeria's average life expectancy was approximately 54.5 years, nearly 20 years less than the global average of 73.3 years (World Bank, 2023, as cited in WHO, 2024). The United Nations 2025 global report placed Nigeria's average life expectancy at 54.9 years, with 54 years for males and 56 years for females (Akande, 2025; United Nations, 2025). The 2024 State of the Nation Health Report revealed 54.6 years, below the global average (WHO, 2024). Other WHO data analysis shows growth from 51.7 years in 2014 to 63.4 years in 2021 followed by stagnation until 2024, indicating volatility depending on methodology but consistently ranking among the lowest globally (BusinessDay, 2024). This poor ranking is what makes the discussion of the reasons for low life expectancy in Nigeria both urgent and policy-relevant.

Nigeria, often referred to as the Giant of Africa, now trails behind war-torn nations like Sudan, where life expectancy stands at 66.5 years, as well as Ghana at 65.7 years and South Sudan at 57.7 years (Akande, 2025). In 2018, Nigeria's life expectancy was an average of 54.33 years, followed only by Sierra Leone (54.31 years), Chad (53.97 years), and Lesotho (53.70 years), below the Sub-Saharan African region average of 61.27 years and 72.56 years globally (World Bank Data, 2019, as cited in Onwube et al., 2021). The fact that life expectancy increased from 45.33 years in 1980 to 53.95 years in 2017 but still remains very low compared to the Sub-Saharan average shows a history of slow progress (World Bank, 2018, as cited in Onwube et al., 2021). The implications are profound. As Onwube et al. (2021) noted, low life expectancy at birth has implications for Nigeria in that productive resources are lost at their prime and their contributions to GDP can no longer be counted.

The Reasons for Low Life Expectancy in Nigeria are: 

1. Weak and Underfunded Health System and Double Burden of Disease: A central driver in the reasons for low life expectancy in Nigeria is the poor and weak health system. Akande (2025) listed the double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and malnutrition as major drivers. Communicable diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis contribute significantly to the disease burden, negatively impacting overall health outcomes and life expectancy (NDHS, 2023/2024, as cited in Daily Trust, 2024).  Access to quality health care remains poor for the majority of Nigerians, and deaths from pregnancies and related causes are also very high (Akande, 2025). Nigeria has one of the world's highest rates of maternal and infant mortality, a direct depressant of life expectancy at birth. Bello-Imam (as cited in Sede & Ohemeng, 2015) compared Nigerian data with the sub-region and concluded that maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births in Nigeria averages 1,100 as against 900 Sub-Saharan African average; malaria mortality rate per 100,000 population of 156 as against 104 Sub-Saharan African average. Health financing is grossly inadequate. Akande (2025) lamented that most of the funding comes from out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE), and this is from people who are already poor. Health insurance coverage in Nigeria has remained very low, as less than 10 per cent of Nigerians are enrolled in a health insurance scheme after 20 years of launching the health insurance scheme (Akande, 2025). In addition, Nigeria faces a serious challenge with human resources due to brain drain, attitude to work, and low motivation (Akande, 2025). Sede and Ohemeng (2015) also noted large scale inefficient utilization of available resources in most public hospitals in Nigeria.

2. Poverty, Inflation, Unemployment and Income Inequality: The economic dimension is consistently cited among the reasons for low life expectancy in Nigeria. The Grossman (1972) health model, which provided the theoretical framework for studies on Nigeria (Onwube et al., 2021), asserted that economic disposition of an individual is critical to affordability of health consumption. Onwube et al. (2021) found that real GDP per capita, inflation rate, imports, household consumption expenditure (HCE), government consumption expenditure (GCE) and exchange rate (EXR) are strong determinants of life expectancy at birth. In their long-run results, inflation rate, imports, and GCE impacted negatively on life expectancy, while real GDP per capita impacted positively. This is a grim reality for Nigeria as inflation continues to rise, reducing the value of money (Onwube et al., 2021). Experts have pegged deaths from insecurity, prevailing high poverty rate, and poor economic indices as drivers (Akande in Ogundepo, 2025). A World Bank report indicates that Nigeria is among 39 countries witnessing sharp increases in extreme poverty, with about 139 million people living below the poverty line (World Bank, 2025, as cited in Akande, 2025). Ogundepo (2025) noted that Nigeria's poverty level rose from 81 million in 2019 to about 139 million in 2025. Poverty reduces the ability to afford nutritious meals, clean environments, and healthcare (Biciunaite, 2014, as cited in Onwube et al., 2021). Sede and Ohemeng (2015) in their analysis covering 1980-2011 found that conventional socio-economic variables such as per capita income, education and government expenditure on health considered to be highly effective in determining life expectancy of developing countries are not significant in the case of Nigeria due to inefficiencies, but that unemployment and depreciation of the Nigerian Naira are critical. An endocrinologist, Ahukannah (as cited in Ogundipe, 2018), identified high unemployment rate, ill health, poverty, deaths from preventable causes, and high corruption as top factors.

3. Food Insecurity and Malnutrition: Another major theme in the reasons for low life expectancy in Nigeria is nutrition. Ogundepo (2025) blamed the country's declining life expectancy on poor diet, widespread malnutrition, and rising poverty, pinning causes on poor and unhealthy food choices, diets and nutrition, increasing levels of poverty, and unhealthy lifestyle. The Deputy Governor of Rivers State linked the nation's low life expectancy to poor infrastructure, lack of food security and poor economic indices (UNFPA, 2023, as cited in Obinna, 2020). Statistics show over 40 per cent of children under five are stunted or wasted (Ogundipe, 2025), which has lifelong consequences for productivity and survival. Food insecurity, compounded by inflation and supply chain disruptions, leaves many families unable to meet daily nutritional needs (Akande, 2025). Income growth acts positively to reduce hunger, provide accommodation in clean environments, access to healthcare, education, and healthy nutritious meals which engenders good health and longevity (Onwube et al., 2021).

4. Insecurity, Environmental Degradation and Pollution: Deaths from insecurity and occupational diseases attributable to poor environment are increasingly recognized (Akande, 2025). Air pollution caused 70,000 deaths in Nigeria in 2019, with 78% of pollution-related pneumonia deaths occurring in children under five (Gatefield, as cited in The Nation, 2024, October 22). Adedeji (2015) found that life expectancy is reduced by carbon dioxide emission. Climate change research also shows greenhouse gas emission has a significant effect on life expectancy in Nigeria (Amuka et al., 2018). Poor environmental sanitation, unsafe water, and poor housing increase exposure to infectious diseases.


5. Poor Health Behaviours, Low Education and Weak Institutions: Literacy provides the individual with common social virtue of writing, reading and cultivation of health ethics which has a bearing on improving life expectancy (Sede & Ohemeng, 2015). Williamson and Boehmer (2003) concluded that education impacts positively on female life expectancy, while Rogers and Wofford (1989) found literacy significantly explained variation in life expectancy in developing countries. In Nigeria, illiteracy and patronage of quacks contribute to mortality. Akande (2025) called for deliberate efforts to check quackery in the health sector, as many people die from patronage of quacks and alternative medicine that do not have scientific evidence. Corruption, indiscipline, and lack of accountability have also been blamed for Nigeria's inability to convert its vast natural and human resources into improved living conditions (Ogundepo, 2025).

Conclusion

The reasons for low life expectancy in Nigeria are not mono-causal but represent a convergence of structural deficits. As this article has shown, life expectancy at birth, defined by WHO (2020) and OECD (2020), is a barometer for a healthy socio-economic system (Onwube et al., 2021). Nigeria's figure of around 54-55 years, far below the global average of 73.3 years, reflects the combined weight of a weak health system, double burden of disease, high maternal and child mortality, pervasive poverty and inflation, unemployment, food insecurity, environmental pollution, insecurity, and low health insurance coverage. Reversing this trend will require more than medical interventions. As Akande (2025) recommended, the government needs to be more committed to reducing the poverty rate, increasing investment in healthcare through improved sectoral allocation, functional Primary Health Care facilities, and rapidly increasing health insurance coverage. Ogundepo (2025) emphasized food self-sufficiency, climate-smart agriculture, peace and security for farmers, and political will. Ultimately, life expectancy is crucial to developing countries striving to achieve socio-economic progress through significant investments in social sectors. Improving it in Nigeria is therefore not just a health goal but a foundational requirement for sustainable development.

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