List of Prime Ministers of India by longevity
This is a list of Indian Prime Ministers by longevity. Where the person in question is still living, the longevity is calculated up to 13 October 2018.
Two measures of the longevity are given - this is to allow for the differing number of leap days occurring within the life of each Prime Minister. The first column is the number of days between date of birth and date of death, allowing for leap days; the second column breaks this number down into years and days, with the years being the number of whole years the Prime Minister lived, and the days being the remaining number of days after his/her last birthday.
![](../I/m/Age_distribution_of_Indian_PMs.png)
If a Prime Minister served more than one non-consecutive term, the dates listed below are for the beginning of their first term, and the end of their final term.
The median age at which a Prime Minister first takes office is roughly 64 years and 8 months, which falls between Gulzarilal Nanda and Chandra Shekhar. The youngest person to become Prime Minister was Rajiv Gandhi, who became Prime Minister at the age of 40 years, 72 days. The oldest person to become Prime Minister was Morarji Desai, who became Prime Minister at the age of 81 years, 23 days.
The oldest living Prime Minister is Manmohan Singh, born 26 September 1932 (aged 86 years, 17 days). The youngest living Prime Minister is the incumbent Narendra Modi, born 17 September 1950 (aged 68 years, 26 days).
The longest lived Prime Minister was Gulzarilal Nanda, who lived to the age of 99 years, 195 days. (Nanda, a cabinet minister, served as acting Prime Minister when both Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri died in office). Morarji Desai was the second-longest lived Prime Minister, and the longest lived elected Prime Minister lived to the age of 99 years, 41 days, only 154 days short of matching Nanda. The shortest lived Prime Minister was Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated at the age of 46 years, 274 days.
Narendra Modi (17 September 1950) is the first Prime Minister of India to be born after the Independence of India. All other former Prime Ministers were born before the Independence of India. Before him, Rajiv Gandhi was the last born Prime Minister (20 August 1944), but he was assassinated in 1991.
Prime Ministers of India
# |
Prime Minister |
Date of birth |
Start date of (first) term |
Age at beginning of (first) term |
End date of (final) term |
Total time in office |
Date of death |
Lifespan |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jawaharlal Nehru | 14 November 1889 | 15 August 1947 | 57 years, 274 days | 27 May 1964[1] | 6,130 days | 27 May 1964 | 27,222 days (74 years, 195 days) |
2 | Gulzarilal Nanda | 4 July 1898 | 27 May 1964 | 65 years, 328 days | 9 June 1964 | 26 days | 15 January 1998 | 36,354 days (99 years, 195 days) |
3 | Lal Bahadur Shastri | 2 October 1904 | 9 June 1964 | 59 years, 251 days | 11 January 1966[1] | 581 days | 11 January 1966 | 22,381 days (61 years, 101 days) |
4 | Indira Gandhi | 19 November 1917 | 24 January 1966 | 48 years, 66 days | 31 October 1984[1] | 5,829 days | 31 October 1984 | 24,453 days (66 years, 347 days) |
5 | Morarji Desai | 29 February 1896 | 24 March 1977 | 81 years, 24 days | 28 July 1979 | 856 days | 10 April 1995 | 36,199 days (99 years, 41 days) |
6 | Charan Singh | 23 December 1902 | 28 July 1979 | 76 years, 217 days | 14 January 1980 | 170 days | 29 May 1987 | 30,838 days (84 years, 157 days) |
7 | Rajiv Gandhi | 20 August 1944 | 31 October 1984 | 40 years, 72 days | 2 December 1989 | 1,858 days | 21 May 1991 | 17,075 days (46 years, 274 days) |
8 | V. P. Singh | 25 June 1931 | 2 December 1989 | 58 years, 160 days | 10 November 1990 | 343 days | 27 November 2008 | 28,280 days (77 years, 155 days) |
9 | Chandra Shekhar | 1 July 1927 | 10 November 1990 | 63 years, 132 days | 21 June 1991 | 223 days | 8 July 2007 | 29,227 days (80 years, 7 days) |
10 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | 28 June 1921 | 21 June 1991 | 69 years, 358 days | 16 May 1996 | 1,791 days | 23 December 2004 | 30,494 days (83 years, 178 days) |
11 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 25 December 1924 | 16 May 1996 | 71 years, 143 days | 22 May 2004 | 2,272 days | 16 August 2018 | 34,202 days (93 years, 234 days) |
12 | H. D. Deve Gowda | 18 May 1933 | 1 June 1996 | 63 years, 14 days | 21 April 1997 | 324 days | 31,194 days (85 years, 148 days) | |
13 | I. K. Gujral | 4 December 1919 | 21 April 1997 | 77 years, 138 days | 19 March 1998 | 332 days | 30 November 2012 | 33,965 days (92 years, 362 days) |
14 | Manmohan Singh | 26 September 1932 | 22 May 2004 | 71 years, 239 days | 26 May 2014 | 3,656 days | 31,428 days (86 years, 17 days) | |
15 | Narendra Modi | 17 September 1950 | 26 May 2014 | 63 years, 251 days | 1,601 days | 24,863 days (68 years, 26 days) |