The data is contained in a report on the state of the world population in 2008 which was released by the United Nations Population Fund on Tuesday.
Beeld newspaper reported that, worldwide, men are expected to live until 65 and women until almost 70.
But in Africa, men are expected to live until 52 and women until 54.
In South Africa, the life expectancy for men is 49 and for women 50.
In Iraq, those figures are 58 and 62 for men and women respectively.
Australians expect to live long lives — the life expectancy for men and women there are 79 and 84 respectively.
The report said South Africa’s HIV infection rate of 14.5 percent among men and 21.8 percent among women places it among the highest on the continent.
Developing countries are also responsible for the most births in the world.
In developed countries, 23 babies are born for every 1000 teenage girls aged between 15 and 19.
In less developed countries, that number increases to 57 and in under-developed nations, the figure is 116.
The report also showed that the number of illiterate South African men is more than double than those in Zimbabwe, a UN Population Fund report showed.
Illiteracy among South African men over 15-years-old is 16 percent as opposed to seven percent in Zimbabwe, Beeld said.
Nineteen percent of South African women older than 15 are illiterate compared to 14 percent in Zimbabwe. – Sapa
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