Here now to provide a some perspective on the matter of mortality is a variegated patchwork comprising 188 of the world's countries, with each nation color-coded in accordance with the average life expectancy of its citizens.


Click here for a hi-res version of the map up top, and here for an interactive one (the applet also allows for mapping by gender).

Just for fun, we've included the top twenty-five countries — as ranked by the CIA World Factbook's 2012 estimates — here. Looking for America? Don't bother. Depending on the data source, the U.S. usually comes in somewhere between 29th and 50th:


Spotted on Explore. See also: The United Nations World Population Prospects Report and the CIA World Factbook section on life expectancy by country.