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life expectancy

life expectancy

52 3.0
Average number of years people are expected to live
  • noun
  • /laɪf ɪkˈspɛk.tən.si/
  • Specialized
translation icon : esperanza de vida
  • The average life expectancy in Japan is among the highest in the world, reaching nearly 85 years.
  • life expectancy at birth
  • average life expectancy
  • increased life expectancy

Yet he's pretty much at life expectancy for a Russian male.

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Examples

  • I wonder what the average life expectancy of an Amish person is.

  • Study reveals stark difference in life expectancy across the United States over the past century.

  • So their average life expectancy has gone down by a year, a year.

  • And an average life expectancy will move up.

  • Speaker, life expectancy is actually beginning to fall.

  • The fact is there are millions of people in this country right now, today, whose life expectancy is lower than their parents.

  • So the blue dots and the blue line associated with them is a healthy life expectancy at birth.

  • But it is worth pointing out that in northern China, life expectancy has gone down five and a half years because of air pollution.

  • This shows neighborhoods in Baltimore and the life expectancy in each neighborhood.

  • The infant mortality rate fell by a third, and life expectancy inched upward.

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

lifespan
vslife expectancy
50 3.5

Length of time people, animals, or things last

is the average number of years predicted for a population
longevity
vslife expectancy
45 5.5

A long life or time that something lasts

measures expected average years across a population using statistics

How Short

life of a mayfly
  • Informal
7.7
short-lived
49 3.9
life expectancy
  • Specialized
52 3.0
long-lived
6 3.9

Surface Forms

Morphology

life + expectancy

The meaning 'average number of years someone is expected to live' is directly derivable from combining 'life' (the period of living) with 'expectancy' (an anticipated duration), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's sense. This is a compositional, cross-linguistically common concept and follows standard noun + noun semantics, making it readily understandable to B1 learners.

Etymology

Life expectancy comes from joining life (how long someone lives) and expectancy (a number people 'expect' from records). That's why life expectancy means the average number of years someone can 'expect' to live.