Releasing the Mid-Year Population Estimates for 2021, Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke announced that the outbreak of the coronavirus has affected the country’s life expectancy. He said the total life expectancy at birth declined from 65.5 to 62 years on average. 

Maluleke said this is largely due to the rise in “excessive deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic”. He confirmed South Africa’s first Covid-19 related death occurred on March 27 last year. 

Maluleke highlighted that the significant rise in deaths in 2021 (approximately 34%), equals a drop in the 2021 Life Expectancy at birth for South Africa. He, in a report further indicates that life expectancy at birth for males declined from 62,4 in 2020 to 59,3 in 2021 and from 68,4 in 2020 to 64,6 for females. 

The Western Cape has the highest life expectancy for both men and women whilst the Free State has the lowest. Life expectancy in the Western Cape for women stands at 70.3 while in the Free State it is 61.4, meaning there is approximately a 9 year gap in female life expectancy between the two provinces. For men it is 64.9 in the Western Cape and in the Free State it is only 55.5.

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