A Few Thoughts on Life Expectancy

I spent the morning looking through life expectancy charts. At first they were rather daunting. There are the world life expectancy charts which provide very vague numbers, and have no relevance to your current age, lifestyle, or mitigating circumstances.

If you are Canadian, expect to life between 70 - 75. If you are from the United Kingdom then you get to live to 77 - 80 years old.. a bit less if you are from the United States.

But, if you read the UK government's forms you get a bit of a different picture. If you are a male, and 44 years old, then you have a 50% chance of reaching 93. If you are male, and 60 years old, you have a 16 - 20% chance of reaching 93 years old. Canadians can expect to live between 75 and 80 for all income brackets, male and female. Americans born in 1980 (sorry, can't find older stats) can expect to live to 73.

The general numbers are not too far off. If you were a male born in 1850 then you had a 10% chance of living until 70 years old and 11.5% for women. The same groups born in 1960 would have a balanced 12% chance of reaching 80. Children born in 2000 will have a 16 - 20% chance.

Of course, you may be wondering how to get into the 11%. With the new health discoveries and understanding of fitness, an improved diet, and a safer lifestyle will all work to keep us living longer - and healthier. Hereditary factors will come into play too.

I am not sure I want to reach 93 if I am in a nursing hoe. However, it would be nice to life to 80 and stay on my feat until the very end.

The leading causes of death in 2003 were:

The leading causes of death For Americans in 2003
Rank Cause Deaths
1 Heart disease 684,462
2 Malignant neoplasms 554,643
3 Cerebrovascular diseases 157,803
4 Chronic lower respiratory diseases 126,128
5 Accidents 105,695
6 Diabetes mellitus 73,965
7 Influenza and pnemonia 64,847
8 Alzheimer's disease 63,343
9 Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome,
nephrosis 42,536
10 Septicemia 34,243
11 Suicide 30,642
12 Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis 27,201
13 Essential hypertension
and hypertensive renal disease 21,841
14 Parkinson's disease 17,898
15 Pneumonitis due to solids
and liquids 17,457
LiveScience Chart / SOURCE: CDC

So, when you look at these numbers, and remove things that you are no tprone to, your chances of living longer are looking positive.

I wanted to bring this information to light because I was talking to a friend a few days ago who said 'what is the point.' She was 50 and thought it was too late to extend her life. We have a better chance than our parents. They had no choice but to live on fat, purins (meat), and starch. Many of the healthy foods available to use were unheard of to them. There is a point - enjoying life.


My next couple of posts are going to explore the increased life expectancy a little more, and explain the phenomenom a little.