Africa’s Death Rate is considerably high and its Life Expectancy is said to be one of the lowest around the world. Africa’s death rate—14.2 deaths per 1,000 people in 2005—is also the highest in the world. Again, the countries of North Africa have significantly lower rates than those of sub-Saharan Africa. Infant and child deaths, from an array of infectious and parasitic diseases, traditionally are the main contributors. Vaccination campaigns have helped lower death rates among children since 1980. However, over the same period, an increasing incidence of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has actually resulted in the decline of life expectancy in some countries. For example, Botswana, after achieving a life expectancy of 60 in the early 1990s, saw the figure fall into the 30s in the first decade of the 21st century. The country’s population will soon be in decline due to the loss of large numbers of young adults to AIDS and the children they would have produced. South Africa is in a similar predicament and several other countries may soon be as well, depending on whether or not infection rates can be lowered. Across the continent, life expectancy in 2005 averaged 50.4 years. Africa’s Death Rate and Life Expectancy indicates the need for economic empowerment schemes and massive renewal of health infrastructures and where absent fresh investments in order to improve the continent’s prospects.
