Life in Zimbabwe is shorter than anywhere else in the world, with the average person not expected to live to 40, a new UN report says.
Zimbabwe's women have an average life expectancy of 34 years and men on average do not live past 37, it said.
The World Health Organisation report said women's life expectancy had fallen by two years in the last 12 months.
According to the BBC's Africa editor, David Bamford, the latest figures are extraordinary for a country like Zimbabwe, which until 20 years ago, had a relatively high standard of living for Africa.
The HIV/Aids epidemic sweeping across southern Africa cannot alone be blamed for this - especially as recent figures show a slight drop in HIV infection rates in Zimbabwe.
Our correspondent says the key reason behind the drop in Zimbabwe's average life expectancy is the fall in the standard of living, triggered by an economic crisis.
Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by an estimated 40% in the last seven years under President Robert Mugabe.
BBC NEWS | Africa | Zimbabweans have 'shortest lives'
Mugabe President for Life ? ....... a firing squad would be my solution !
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"One must never forget that monetary union, which the two of us were the first to propose more than a decade ago is ultimately a political project. It aims to give a new impulse to the historic movement towards union of the European states. Monetary union is a federative project that needs to be accompanied and followed by other steps." — Giscard d'Estaing and Helmut Schmidt
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