10.08.2007

Places You'd Probably Already Be Dead

The CIA World Factbook is quite informative, and will tell you just about anything you want to know about every country in the world. One page I found interesting was a ranking of average life expectancies for all of the world's 222 countries. I found out that actuarially speaking, I'd already be toast if I lived in any of the 18 countries at the bottom of the rankings, ranging from Nigeria (47.44 years) all the way down to the downright lethal Swaziland (32.23 years). 17 of the 18 countries in that group are in Africa; the sole exception is Afghanistan at #209 (43.77 years). Most of those African nations have high death rates from AIDS, which skews their numbers way down.

If you're curious, the United States ranks at #45, with an average life expectancy of 78.00 years. The place you'd live the longest? The tiny principality of Andorra (pop. 71,822), with an average life expectancy of 83.52 years. Must be that clear mountain air...