Longevity - Life Span Expectancy Information
The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected.
There are many difficulties in authenticating the longest human life span even by modern verification standards, owing to inaccurate or incomplete birth statistics.
Various factors contribute to an individual's longevity. Significant factors in life expectancy include gender, genetics, access to health care, hygiene, diet and nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, and crime rates. Evidence-based studies indicate that longevity is based on two major factors, genetics and lifestyle choices. Twin studies have estimated that approximately 20-30% of an individual’s lifespan is related to genetics, the rest is due to individual behaviors and environmental factors which can be modified. In addition, it found that lifestyle plays almost no factor in health and longevity after the age of 80, and that almost everything in advanced age is due to genetic factors.
View our Average Life Expectancy Chart listing average life span by country.
Why Do Women Live Longer Than Men?
Women as a rule normally outlive men, and this was as true in pre-industrial times as today. Reasons for this include smaller bodies (and thus less stress on the heart), a stronger immune system (since testosterone acts as an immunosuppressant), and less tendency to engage in physically dangerous activities. It is also theorized that women have an evolutionary reason to live longer so as to help care for grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Oldest Humans Have Lived For:
The Gerontology Research Group validates current longevity records by modern standards, and maintains a list of supercentenarians; many other unvalidated longevity claims exist.
Record-holding individuals include:
- Sarah Knauss (1880-1999, 119 years, 97 days): The second oldest documented person in modern times and the oldest American.
- Christian Mortensen (1882-1998, 115 years, 252 days): the oldest man in history whose age has been verified by modern documentation.
- Jeanne Calment (1875–1997, 122 years, 164 days): the oldest person in history whose age has been verified by modern documentation. This defines the modern human life span, which is set by the oldest documented individual who ever lived.
While various other individuals have lived between 110 and 114 years, the above mentioned people are the only ones known to have lived longer than 114.
Pre 20th century individuals attaining lifespans of 75 years or greater, include Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Cato the Elder, Thomas Hobbes, and Michaelangelo.
Will Humans Live Longer in the Future?
The U.S. Census Bureau view on the future of longevity is that life expectancy in the United States will be in the mid-80s by 2050 (up from 77.85 in 2006) and will top out eventually in the low 90s, barring major scientific advances that can change the rate of human aging itself, as opposed to merely treating the effects of aging as is done today. However, recent increases in the rates of lifestyle diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, may drastically slow or reverse this trend toward increasing life expectancy in the developed world.
Some argue that molecular nanotechnology will greatly extend human life spans. If the rate of increase of life span can be raised with these technologies to a level of twelve months increase per year, this is defined as effective biological immortality and is the goal of radical life extension.
Articles
| Pub. Date | Topic | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2011-12-24 | Onset of Age-related Disability and Disorders Could be Delayed or Prevented | Mayo Clinic |
| 2011-11-03 | Erasing Signs of Aging in Cells a Step Forward for Regenerative Medicine | INSERM |
| 2011-08-26 | Longevity Clinics - Information on Anti Aging Centers | Disabled World |
| 2011-08-24 | Longevity Insurance - Income Supplement for Old Age | Carol Eastman |
| 2011-08-22 | Successful Aging and How to Age Successfully | Raphael Weiss |
| 2011-08-19 | Temporarily Reversing Aging in the Immune System | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
Human Longevity and Aging Process Video - In this video clip Thomas Rando and Anne Brunet provide a general overview on the process and potential prevention of aging.
Life Expectancy Changing Aging Video - Author Lilian Rubin discusses changes to our concept of aging brought about by increased life expectancy.
- Life Expectancy - CIA Facts - These figures contain the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year, if mortality at each age remains constant in the future.
- Life Expectancy - The expected number of years of life remaining at a given age denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience. In modern times, life expectancy has substantially changed on a yearly basis and cannot be used accurately for long-term predictions.
