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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Broken limits to life expectancy | | Author(s) | James W Vaupel, Kristin G v Kistowski |
| Corporate Author | Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany; Oxford Institute of Ageing |
| Journal title | Ageing Horizons, 2006, no 3, Autumn/Winter 2005 |
| Publisher | Oxford Institute of Ageing, Oxford, Autumn/Winter 2005 |
| Pages | pp 6-13 |
| Source | Download only from: http:/www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/ageinghorizons |
| Keywords | Longevity ; Demography ; Centenarians ; Life expectancy tables ; Europe. |
| Annotation | Life expectancy has increased at a steady pace in industrialised countries over the last 160 years and a slowdown is not evident. Since 1950, the number of people celebrating their 100th birthday has at least doubled each decade. Survival is increasing as a result of progress in economic developments, social improvements, and advances in medicine. Despite a widespread belief that old-age mortality is intractable, life expectancy is not approaching a limit. Rather, the evidence suggests that ageing is plastic, and that survival can be extended by various genetic changes and non-genetic interactions. Increases in human life expectancy are largely attributed to improvements in old-age survival. A reasonable scenario would be that life expectancy will continue to rise in the coming decades, fuelled by advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of age-related diseases. If the trend continues, life expectancy in Europe would exceed 90 years in the first half of this century. Many official forecasts, however, have assumed lower figures - possibly with severe consequences both for public and private decision-making. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-060228202 A |
| Classmark | BGA: S8: BBT: S7: 74 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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