So this is it...we're going to die
I was reading the Hacker News discussion of yesterday's link on death and doctors' views on it, and came across this comment which highlighted how small the gains in lifespan over the last hundred years are.
Basically, if you were 65 in 1900 then on average you had 12 more years to live. In 2007 you had 19 more years to live*. If you were 85 then you've gone from 4 more years to 6 more years.
So that's an addition of 7 years and 2 years. Which doesn't seem like very much, particularly as I keep hearing about how much better modern life expectancy is.
Does anyone have any better stats than that? Or any stats for life extension gains in other countries than the US?
*That has to be an estimate, what with it not being 2026 yet.
Original post on Dreamwidth - there are
comments there.
Basically, if you were 65 in 1900 then on average you had 12 more years to live. In 2007 you had 19 more years to live*. If you were 85 then you've gone from 4 more years to 6 more years.
So that's an addition of 7 years and 2 years. Which doesn't seem like very much, particularly as I keep hearing about how much better modern life expectancy is.
Does anyone have any better stats than that? Or any stats for life extension gains in other countries than the US?
*That has to be an estimate, what with it not being 2026 yet.
Original post on Dreamwidth - there are
comments there.