This dataset provides the period Life Expectancy at birth per country and year. The overall aim of the dataset is to cover the entire world from 1500-2000.
This version (version 2) was built as part of the OECD "How was life" project. The dataset has nearly global coverage for the post-1950 period, while pre-1950 coverage decreases the more historic the period. Depending on sources, the data are annual estimates, five-yearly or decadal estimates.
The sources used are:
For specifics concerning (selections of) the sources, see the R code available in the working paper here.