Chart 1. Life Expectancy at Birth, 1965 and 1998

Life expectancy has increased over the past several decades, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Much of this increase is a result of improved access to nutritious food, safe water, sanitation, and basic health care This chart also shows that life expectancy in the United States in 1900 * was 47 years--what it was in low-income countries in 1965.

*Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, D.C., 1976).