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Public Health & Epidemiology vocabulary · Measuring Health and Disease

Life expectancy

Meaning in public health & epidemiology, with examples

/ˈlaɪf ɪkˌspektənsi/nounCore term

In public health & epidemiology, life expectancy means: The average number of years a person of a given age can expect to live if current death rates stay the same, most often reported as life expectancy at birth.

In Turkish: beklenen yaşam süresi, yaşam beklentisi, ortalama ömür

How it is used

One of the most quoted indicators of population health. It rises, falls, stalls or improves, and you compare gaps in life expectancy between countries, regions or income groups. Healthy life expectancy counts only the years lived in good health.

Example sentences

  1. Life expectancy at birth is several years lower in the poorest districts.

  2. Women's life expectancy is higher than men's in almost every country.

Common collocations

  • life expectancy at birth
  • healthy life expectancy
  • rise in life expectancy
  • gap in life expectancy
  • mortality rateThe number of deaths in a population during a period, divided by the size of that population, often given per 1,000 or 100,000 people per year.
  • health inequalitiesDifferences in health, such as life expectancy or disease rates, between groups of people defined by income, area, ethnicity, gender or other social factors.
  • social gradientThe pattern in which health gets steadily better at each step up the social ladder, so that not only the poorest but everyone below the top has worse health than those above them.
  • DALYShort for disability-adjusted life year: one year of healthy life lost, either through early death or through living with illness or disability.

More terms: Measuring Health and Disease

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.