Populations are rapidly growing older across the globe. In South Africa, life expectancy has been on the increase over the past decade, and the proportion of older people is projected to increase dramatically over the coming years. Whilst this is a remarkable achievement, it does not mean that additional years of life will be healthy. To this end, the question being asked by researchers and policy makers is whether people are living longer and healthier lives? In order to answer this important question, health expectancies have been developed which combine morbidity and mortality data into a single index that measures population health. The health expectancies have become standard measures of population health across first world countries. Unfortunately, there is little awareness about their use in developing countries, including South Africa. The aim of this study was to estimate health expectancies based on various objective and subjective measures, in order to give a first comprehensive analysis of the health and wellbeing of older people in South Africa. The data were drawn from two nationally representative surveys namely; the WHO-Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) and the South African National HIV Incidence, Prevalence, Behaviour and Communication Survey (SABSSM) surveys.