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Who wouldn’t want to live a long, healthy life well into their 100s?
Despite current trends, chances of extending human lifespan are still quite small as it’s becoming increasingly apparent that gains in life expectancy are plateauing, according to specialists.
Scientists have discovered that humanity seems to be reaching the limits of life extension, in spite of significant strides in the area of life expectancy that were achieved primarily through medical advancements during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Forecasts made in the 1990s predicted that many youngsters currently being born would live to be 100 years old.
According to new analysis, girls and boys born recently have a 5.3 percent likelihood of celebrating 100 years of life if female, and an even lower 1.8 percent likelihood if male.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have analyzed mortality data from countries and regions around the globe, including Hong Kong, Australia, France, and Spain.
According to data, the average lifespan across the globe increased from 48 in 1900 to 67 by 1950, and then further grew to 76 years by the beginning of the 21st century.
As of 2021, the figure stood at 77.
According to the team, the estimated figure would likely be around 83 if the trend of radical life extension had persisted.
Statistics, as reported by the British Office for National Statistics, indicate a remarkable increase in life expectancy in the United Kingdom since the earliest available records in 1841.
At the time, an infant’s life expectancy was significantly lower, with males having an average lifespan of 40 point 2 years and females having an average lifespan of 42 point 3 years.
Life expectancy for males increased to 66.1 years by 1950 and 75.6 years by 2000, while life expectancy for females rose to 70.6 years by 1950 and 80.4 years by 2000.
Recent statistics reveal that a child born in 2022 can anticipate living to approximately 78.9 years if male, and 82.8 years if female, indicating a slowdown in life expectancy gains.
According to a new analysis, those residing in Hong Kong are the most likely to live to be 100 years old, specifically, 2019-born children: 12.8% of females and 4.4% of males are projected to reach the century mark.
The team claims that there is currently no supporting evidence that suggests “radical life extension” will take place during the 21st century. They maintain that attention should be directed towards increasing the average lifespan by enhancing overall health rather than focusing solely on extending life expectancy.
Professor Stuart Olshansky, the lead author of the study, noted: ‘The majority of individuals currently alive beyond old age are living on years of life that owe their existence to medical advancements.
However, medical interventions are yielding decreasingly smaller gains in lifespan, despite a rapid acceleration in their emergence, which hopefully means the period of rapid increases in life expectancy is quite conclusively in the past.
Let’s concentrate on strategies that slow down the aging process and increase the period of healthy life.
‘Healthspan refers to the duration of a person’s life spent in a state of good health, going beyond mere longevity.’
In 1990, Professor Olshansky wrote an article suggesting that humans were nearing a maximum hypothetical limit to their maximum lifespan of approximately 85 years, and that the most substantial improvements in life expectancy had likely already occurred.
He states that our findings contradict the long-held belief that a significant increase in human lifespan is still a distant prospect, not something that has happened yet.
The research results were published in the international journal Nature Aging.
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