how long do wasps live for

Most common social wasps live only a few weeks as adults, while queens can live for close to a year in total (including hibernation).

Basic lifespan

• Worker wasps (the ones you usually see in summer) typically live around 12–22 days in many species, so just a few weeks.

• Male wasps (drones) usually survive only a few weeks and often die shortly after mating.

• Queen wasps can survive for up to about one year, because they are born late in the season, mate, then hibernate through winter and start a new nest in spring.

Why some answers say “months”

• When people say “wasps live for months,” they are usually talking about the whole colony season (spring to autumn), not a single worker’s life.

• A worker may be around only a small part of that season, but because new workers keep emerging, it feels like the same wasps are there all summer.

Factors that change how long they live

• Species, temperature, food availability, and predators all affect how long an individual wasp survives.

• Queens get sheltered in the nest and then in hibernation, so they are protected and can live much longer than exposed workers.

TL;DR:

• Workers: roughly 2–3 weeks
• Males: a few weeks
• Queens: up to about 1 year (including winter hibernation)

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.