In 2014, life expectancy at birth in Brazil was 75.2 years (75 years, 2 months and 12 days), with an increment of 3 months and 18 days in relation to 2013 (74.9 years). The increment in the male population was 3 months and 25 days, with a change from 71.3 to 71.6 years. Among women the increae was a little smaller (3 months and 11 days), with a change from 78.6 to 78.8 years. Infant mortality rate (of those up to 1 year of age) in 2014 stayed at 14.4 per thousand live births in 2013 and child mortality rate (of those up to 5 years of age), at 16.7 per thousand. Information of this kind is available at the Complete Mortality Tables 2014, which includes life expectancy figures up to the exact age of 80. This type of information is used by the Ministry of Social Security as one of the parameters to calculate the social security factor for retirement pensions under the General Social Security System. The complete publication is available here.

Table 2
Life expectancy at birth - Brazil
1940/2014

Santa Catarina was the Federation Unit with the highest life expectancy at birth for both sexes in 2014: 78.4 years. This state also had the highest life expectancy figures for men (75.1 years) and for women (81.8 years). On the other extreme is the state of Maranhão, with life expectancy at birth of 70.0 years, for both sexes. Among men, the lowest life expectancy at birth (66.2 years) was found in Alagoas; among women, in Roraima (73.7 years). So, Alagoas had the biggest difference between file expectancy figures of men and women (with 9.5 years more for women), and Roraima, the smallest difference (5.3 more for women). Concerning infant mortality, the highest rate was reported by Amapá (23.7 per thousand live births), and the lowest in Espírito Santo (9.6 per thousand).

IBGE | sala de imprensa | notícias | In 2014, life expectancy at birth was 75.2 years

From 1940 to 2014, infant mortality dropped 90.2%

Between 1940 and 2014 life expectancy at birth for both sexes changed from 45.5 years to 75.2 years, with an increase of 29.7 years. In the same period, infant mortality rate changed from 146.6 deaths to 14.4 deaths per one thousand live births, that is, it recorded decrease of 90.2%.  

The behavior of the life expectancy series for the years of 1940 and 2014 is very different up to the 5 years of age, due to the high levels of infant mortality observed in 1940: if a child managed to complete their first birthday, their life expectancy would be 6.7 years higher than at birth, and the overall life expectancy, of 53.2 years. In 2014, after their first birthday, the child's life expectancy would increase by 0.1 year only, in relation to life expectancy at birth, resulting in a total 76.3 years of life.

All the ages were benefited by the decrease of mortality levels between 1940 and 2014, mainly the younger generations, among which are found increases in life expectancy, mainly in the female population.

The decline of mortality levels also benefited adult age (15 to 59 years).   In 1940, out of each 10 thousand persons who reached the age of 15, 535 would get to the age of 60. In 2014, out of every 1000 persons who reached 15 years of age, 855 would reach the age of 60, that is, in the period, 320 lives were spared per every 1000 persons in this age bracket.

From 60 years of age on, increases in life expectancy were very significant.  In 1940, at the age of 60 a person would expect to live, on the average, 13.2 years more, being 11.6 years for men and 14.5 years for women. In 2014, life expectancy for this age surpassed 22 years, being 20.1 for men and 23.6 for women. From every thousand persons who turned 60 years of age, in 1940, 788 would not reach 80. In 2014, this rate changed to 421‰, minus 367 deaths than in 1940.

For the group aged 80 and over, life expectancy changed from 4.3 years in 1940 to 9.3 years in 2014. By sex, in 2014, life expectancy figures at the age of 80 were 9.9 for women and 8.3 years for men; in 1940 these figures were 4.0 for men and 4.5 for women. Whereas the life expectancy of men increased 4.3 years in the period, that of women increased 5.4 years, indicating a bigger increase in the longevity of the female in relation to the male population.

IBGE | sala de imprensa | notícias | In 2014, life expectancy at birth was 75.2 years

Table 5
Probability of a youngster aged 15 not reaching the age of 25 (%0) - Brazil
1940/2014

Male over-mortality is higher between aged 22 and 23

Mortality of youngsters aged 15 to 24 also decreased between 1940 and 2014. The differences between the sexes increased, however. In 1940, out of every 1000 youngsters who reached 15 years of age, 59 male ones and 51 female ones would not turn 25, that is, men experienced eight deaths more than women did. In 2014, this figure was 21‰ among men and 5‰ among women. Whereas the decline of this probability in the female population was approximately 90.0%, in the male population it was only 60.5%. So, the difference between the sexes increased, and reached 16 deaths in 2014, mainly due to deaths by external causes, and affecting the male population most significantly.

The higher mortality of the male population in relation to the female population is noticeable since birth. The probability of a male newly-born not completing the first year of life was 15.6 per thousand live births. As to women, this figure was 13.2 per thousand, a difference of 2.4 deaths. As a result, infant mortality for boys was 1.2 higher than for girls.

Between 2 and 3 years of age, this value changed to 1.3 times, and remained at this level up to 7 years. From this age on, mortality increased and reached its maximum value between 22 and 23: a 22-year old man had 4.7 more chances of not reaching 23 years of age than a woman. After that, mortality decreased with the increase of age.

IBGE | sala de imprensa | notícias | In 2014, life expectancy at birth was 75.2 years