Potential years of life lost by country
Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL) is a summary measure of premature mortality which provides an explicit way of weighting deaths occurring at younger ages, which are, a priori, preventable. The calculation of PYLL involves summing up deaths occurring at each age and multiplying this with the number of remaining...
What the numbers show
Potential years of life lost is currently reported for 36 countries. The highest value is 17,551 Years per 100 000 persons in South Africa; the lowest is 2,507 Years per 100 000 persons in Luxembourg.
The median across all reporting countries is 4,130 Years per 100 000 persons, and the mean is 5,176 Years per 100 000 persons.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 7.
Over the past decade 8 countries rose and 28 fell. The largest increase was in Peru (up 19.0%), and the largest decrease in South Africa (down 41.7%).
Potential years of life lost: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Africa | 17,551 Years per 100 000 persons | 2020 | down 41.7% | falling |
| 2 | Russia | 10,769 Years per 100 000 persons | 2019 | down 31.9% | falling |
| 3 | Mexico | 8,732 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | up 3.5% | falling |
| 4 | Brazil | 8,314 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 11.7% | falling |
| 5 | Bulgaria | 7,786 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 4.6% | falling |
| 6 | Romania | 7,250 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 11.3% | falling |
| 7 | United States | 6,994 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | up 12.8% | falling |
| 8 | Argentina | 6,726 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 12.9% | falling |
| 9 | Hungary | 6,412 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | down 14.3% | falling |
| 10 | Costa Rica | 6,387 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | up 17.9% | falling |
| 11 | Colombia | 6,305 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 6.2% | volatile |
| 12 | Peru | 5,993 Years per 100 000 persons | 2022 | up 19.0% | falling |
| 13 | Chile | 4,798 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 12.5% | volatile |
| 14 | Czechia | 4,503 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | down 11.7% | falling |
| 15 | Canada | 4,365 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | up 4.9% | falling |
| 16 | Greece | 4,292 Years per 100 000 persons | 2022 | down 1.8% | falling |
| 17 | United Kingdom | 4,273 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | up 1.8% | falling |
| 18 | Germany | 4,157 Years per 100 000 persons | 2022 | down 2.7% | falling |
| 19 | Portugal | 4,102 Years per 100 000 persons | 2022 | down 10.8% | falling |
| 20 | New Zealand | 3,884 Years per 100 000 persons | 2020 | down 14.6% | falling |
| 21 | Belgium | 3,845 Years per 100 000 persons | 2022 | down 18.1% | falling |
| 22 | France | 3,801 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 12.9% | falling |
| 23 | Finland | 3,702 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | down 13.8% | falling |
| 24 | Austria | 3,585 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | down 11.4% | falling |
| 25 | Israel | 3,582 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | up 1.6% | falling |
| 26 | Ireland | 3,577 Years per 100 000 persons | 2022 | down 14.3% | falling |
| 27 | Denmark | 3,576 Years per 100 000 persons | 2022 | down 17.5% | falling |
| 28 | Australia | 3,438 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | down 6.9% | falling |
| 29 | Norway | 3,284 Years per 100 000 persons | 2016 | down 24.1% | falling |
| 30 | Iceland | 3,267 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | up 2.0% | falling |
| 31 | Italy | 3,080 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 9.9% | falling |
| 32 | Japan | 3,069 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 10.0% | volatile |
| 33 | Spain | 2,976 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | down 13.3% | falling |
| 34 | Switzerland | 2,734 Years per 100 000 persons | 2023 | down 17.9% | falling |
| 35 | Sweden | 2,727 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | down 19.7% | falling |
| 36 | Luxembourg | 2,507 Years per 100 000 persons | 2024 | down 23.5% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Slovak Republic 5,752 Years per 100 000 persons
- Croatia 5,248 Years per 100 000 persons
- Korea 3,128 Years per 100 000 persons
About this data
Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL) is a summary measure of premature mortality which provides an explicit way of weighting deaths occurring at younger ages, which are, a priori, preventable. The calculation of PYLL involves summing up deaths occurring at each age and multiplying this with the number of remaining years to live up to a selected age limit. The limit of 75 years has been chosen for the calculations in OECD Health Statistics. The selected ICD categories presented in the OECD Health Statistics database are detailed in an Excel file available for download, with codes according to the Tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) along with codes from other ICD revisions used in the WHO Mortality Database. Please refer to the Sources and Methods for detailed country-specific information.