Life Expectancy by sex between 2000 and 2021 in Kenya (WHO)

Plot showing the life expectancy using data from the World Health Organization (WHO) between 2000 and 2021 in Kenya.

data-science
Author

Kabui, Charles

Published

10 March 2025

Keywords

kenya, population, year-2000, year-2021, life-expectancy, WHO

Imports

Code 
import pandas as pd
import urllib.parse
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns

def plot_who_data(
        raw_data: pd.DataFrame, 
        title: str, 
        year_col = "Year", 
        value_col = "Value", 
        pivot_columns = "Sex", 
        pivot_data_columns = [
            {
                "name": "TOTAL",
                "options": {
                    'marker': 'o',
                    'linewidth': 2,
                    'color': 'purple'
                }
            },
            {
                "name": "MALE",
                "options": {
                    'marker': 's',
                    'linewidth': 2,
                    'color': 'blue'
                }
            },
            {
                "name": "FEMALE",
                "options": {
                    'marker': '^',
                    'linewidth': 2,
                    'color': 'pink'
                }
            },
        ]):
    data = raw_data.copy()
    # Convert Year to numeric and Value to float
    data[year_col] = pd.to_numeric(data[year_col])
    data[value_col] = pd.to_numeric(data[value_col])
    # Pivot the data to have columns for each sex category
    pivot_data = data.pivot_table(index=year_col, columns=pivot_columns, values=value_col)
    # Set the style
    sns.set_style("whitegrid")
    fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(12, 6))
    # Plot the data
    for column in pivot_data_columns:
        sex = column['name']
        ax.plot(pivot_data.index, pivot_data[sex], label=sex, **column['options'])
    # Add title and labels
    ax.set_title(title, fontsize=16)
    ax.set_xlabel(year_col, fontsize=12)
    ax.set_ylabel(value_col, fontsize=12)
    ax.legend(title=pivot_columns)
    ax.grid(True, alpha=0.3)
    # Add some annotations - show max and min values
    for sex in pivot_data.columns:
        max_year = pivot_data[sex].idxmax()
        max_val = pivot_data[sex].max()
        ax.annotate(f"max: {max_val:.1f}", 
                    xy=(max_year, max_val),
                    xytext=(5, 5),
                    textcoords='offset points',
                    fontsize=9)
    # Adjust the layout
    fig.tight_layout()
    # Add data source note
    fig.text(0.1, 0.01, "Data Source: WHO Xmart API", fontsize=8, style='italic')
    # Add a watermark to the center of the plot
    ax.text(0.95, 0.02, 'ToKnow.ai', ha='right', va='bottom', 
        fontsize=18, color='gray', alpha=0.5, transform=ax.transAxes, rotation=45)

def url_encode(url):
    return urllib.parse.quote(url, safe=":/?&=$")

Life expectancy, Kenya

The average number of years that a newborn could expect to live. Kenya, by sex, 2000 - 2021.

life_expectancy_filter = "IND_ID eq '90E2E48WHOSIS_000001' and GEO_NAME_SHORT eq 'Kenya'"
life_expectancy_select = "DIM_GEO_CODE_M49, GEO_NAME_SHORT, DIM_TIME, IND_NAME, DIM_SEX, AMOUNT_N"
life_expectancy_data = pd.read_csv(url_encode(
    f"https://xmart-api-public.who.int/DATA_/RELAY_WHS?$filter={life_expectancy_filter}&$select={life_expectancy_select}&$format=csv"),
    names=[
        "Country Code",
        "Country",
        "Year",
        "Indicator",
        "Sex",
        "Life expectancy (at birth)"
    ],
    header=1)

life_expectancy_data
Country Code Country Year Indicator Sex Life expectancy (at birth)
0 404 Kenya 2009 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 60.490621
1 404 Kenya 2010 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 61.282761
2 404 Kenya 2012 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 62.615857
3 404 Kenya 2014 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 63.636944
4 404 Kenya 2001 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 54.332836
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
60 404 Kenya 2019 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 68.991063
61 404 Kenya 2006 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 59.008718
62 404 Kenya 2007 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 60.214093
63 404 Kenya 2011 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 64.116368
64 404 Kenya 2018 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 68.566521

65 rows × 6 columns

plot_who_data(
    life_expectancy_data, 
    "Life expectancy (at birth) in Kenya", 
    value_col="Life expectancy (at birth)")

Summary Statistics

life_expectancy_data.pivot_table(
    index="Year", 
    columns="Sex", 
    values="Life expectancy (at birth)").describe()
Sex FEMALE MALE TOTAL
count 22.000000 22.000000 21.000000
mean 62.856168 58.951730 61.050339
std 5.099057 3.984922 4.563089
min 55.217093 52.941969 54.092039
25% 58.087847 55.232042 56.395140
50% 63.623846 59.656871 61.981267
75% 67.346733 62.419297 65.032495
max 69.673467 64.395877 66.793450

Healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth

The average number of years that a person can expect to live in “full health” from birth. Kenya, by sex, 2000 - 2021.

healthy_life_expectancy_filter = "IND_ID eq 'C64284DWHOSIS_000002' and GEO_NAME_SHORT eq 'Kenya'"
healthy_life_expectancy_select = "DIM_GEO_CODE_M49, GEO_NAME_SHORT, DIM_TIME, IND_NAME, DIM_SEX, AMOUNT_N"
healthy_life_expectancy_data = pd.read_csv(url_encode(
    f"https://xmart-api-public.who.int/DATA_/RELAY_WHS?$filter={life_expectancy_filter}&$select={life_expectancy_select}&$format=csv"),
    names=[
        "Country Code",
        "Country",
        "Year",
        "Indicator",
        "Sex",
        "Healthy life expectancy (at birth)"
    ],
    header=1)

healthy_life_expectancy_data
Country Code Country Year Indicator Sex Healthy life expectancy (at birth)
0 404 Kenya 2009 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 60.490621
1 404 Kenya 2010 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 61.282761
2 404 Kenya 2012 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 62.615857
3 404 Kenya 2014 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 63.636944
4 404 Kenya 2001 Life expectancy (at birth) TOTAL 54.332836
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
60 404 Kenya 2019 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 68.991063
61 404 Kenya 2006 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 59.008718
62 404 Kenya 2007 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 60.214093
63 404 Kenya 2011 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 64.116368
64 404 Kenya 2018 Life expectancy (at birth) FEMALE 68.566521

65 rows × 6 columns

plot_who_data(
    healthy_life_expectancy_data, 
    "Healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth in Kenya", 
    value_col="Healthy life expectancy (at birth)")

Summary Statistics

healthy_life_expectancy_data.pivot_table(
    index="Year", 
    columns="Sex", 
    values="Healthy life expectancy (at birth)").describe()
Sex FEMALE MALE TOTAL
count 22.000000 22.000000 21.000000
mean 62.856168 58.951730 61.050339
std 5.099057 3.984922 4.563089
min 55.217093 52.941969 54.092039
25% 58.087847 55.232042 56.395140
50% 63.623846 59.656871 61.981267
75% 67.346733 62.419297 65.032495
max 69.673467 64.395877 66.793450

References

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

Reuse

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE v3.0(View License)

Citation

BibTeX citation:
@misc{kabui2025,
  author = {{Kabui, Charles}},
  title = {Life {Expectancy} by Sex Between 2000 and 2021 in {Kenya}
    {(WHO)}},
  date = {2025-03-10},
  url = {https://toknow.ai/posts/kenya-life-expectancy-between-2000-and-2021/index.html},
  langid = {en-GB}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Kabui, Charles. 2025. “Life Expectancy by Sex Between 2000 and 2021 in Kenya (WHO).” https://toknow.ai/posts/kenya-life-expectancy-between-2000-and-2021/index.html.