Life Expectancy Trends

**Speed of Population Aging (Source: Japan Ministry of Health and Welfare)**

There are certain interesting trends in life expectancy. First, for most countries in the world, more babies who are born survive infancy and childhood. Second, during the first half of the 20th century developed countries saw the average life expectancy of their population increase by over 20 years. Spain, which had a comparatively low life expectancy in 1900, saw it double by 1995 and equal that of other developed nations. The graph depicts the speed of population aging. The values represent the number of years required or expected for percent of population aged 65 or over to rise from 7% to 14%. Beginning in the 1950’s, a new trend emerged in developed countries— female life expectancy continued to rise but gains in male life expectancy slowed significantly or leveled off. In most developed countries of the world, women outlive men by 5-9 years. In 1995 the life expectancy for females in over 15 nations was at or exceeded 80 years. The fourth trend is that the oldest old (aged 80+) are the fastest growing segment of many nations populations. In most developed countries the oldest old already account for more than 20% of the overall elderly population and this number is increasing. For the Scandinavian countries, France and Switzerland, the oldest old are approximately 4% of the total population. The final trend to point out is that increases in life expectancy are not uniform for all people living within a country. Indigenous populations living in developed countries have population pyramids that are more typical of developing countries within the African continent (e.g., they have high fertility and mortality levels across all age groups) than they are of the developed country in which they live. For example, American Indian, Eskimo and Aleut populations have an age structure like Morocco rather than the US; and the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia, have a population pattern that is roughly the same as Ethiopia.
Here are some additional facts to consider:

From 1900 to 1995 females in developed countries have added more than 30 years to their life expectancy
In developed countries, not only do more people survive to old age, but those who do can expect to live longer than their predecessors
The over 80 population is the most rapidly increasing population in many nations.

Here are some questions to consider:

What are the consequences of women living about 10 years longer then men?
What things might contribute to different patterns of population aging within countries?
Early in this century the average person living in developed countries did not expect to live into their 70s or 80s. Most of us can now look forward to this life span-what should we be doing throughout our lives so that we can take advantage of these "extra" years? How do you want to live when you are in your 80s?
In many developing countries the extension of life is like a revolution--the most dramatic gains are in East Asia where life expectancy at birth increased from less than 45 years in 1950 to more than 71 years in 1990. What should schools and other institutions be doing to help students prepare for this increased life span?