More than half of all babies born in developed countries in the 21st century will live to be 100 years old if current life expectancy trends continue.
Research by the Danish Ageing Research Centre has also shown that not only are people living longer than before, but those extra years are spent with less disability and fewer limitations on daily life than in the past.
Shortened working weeks over extended working lives might further increase in life expectancy and health, preliminary evidence from the research published in the Lancet medical journal suggests.
The increases in life expectancy in rich countries evident since 1840 show no signs of slowing, the authors, which include world ageing expert and professor of epidemiology Kaare Christensen, say; “The linear increase in record life expectancy for more than 165 years does not suggest a looming limit to human lifespan…If life expectancy were approaching a limit, some deceleration of progress would probably occur”.
Mortality in people older than 80 years is still falling in rich nations according to the research. Data from more than 30 developed countries showed that in 1950 the probability of survival from age 80 years to 90 years was on average 15–16 per cent for women and 12 per cent for men, while in 2002, these values were 37 per cent and 25 per cent.