Definition

Life expectancy at birth measures how long on average a person may expect to live based on the age-specific death rates prevailing in a country at the time of his or her birth. It should be noted that the actual age-specific death rates of any particular birth cohort cannot be known in advance; this implies that, if age-specific death rates are falling (as has been the case over the past few decades in all OECD countries), the actual life span of a person will be higher than the life expectancy calculated based on current death rates.

For more statistics on economic, environmental and social issues visit online the OECD Factbook 2010.