What is the average age people live to

Here we present the period life table for the Social Security area population. For this table, the period life expectancy at a given age is the average remaining number of years expected prior to death for a person at that exact age, born on January 1, using the mortality rates for over the course of his or her remaining life. Learn about Emergency Assistance for Homeowners and Renters. Unhygienic living conditions and little access to effective medical care meant life expectancy was likely limited to about 35 years of age.

It does not mean that the average person living in A. Rather, for every child that died in infancy, another person might have lived to see their 70th birthday. Early years up to the age of about 15 continued to be perilous, thanks to risks posed by disease, injuries, and accidents.

People who survived this hazardous period of life could well make it into old age. Other infectious diseases like cholera, tuberculosis, and smallpox would go on to limit longevity, but none on a scale quite as damaging of the bubonic plague in the 14th century. From the s onward, till around the year , life expectancy throughout Europe hovered between 30 and 40 years of age. Since the early s, Finch writes that life expectancy at birth has doubled in a period of only 10 or so generations.

Improved health care, sanitation, immunizations, access to clean running water, and better nutrition are all credited with the massive increase. A better understanding of hygiene and the transmission of microbes has since contributed substantially to public health. Disease was still common, however, and impacted life expectancy.

Parasites, typhoid , and infections like rheumatic fever and scarlet fever were all common during the s. According to Statistics Canada, this meant a life expectancy or average survival rate in that country that was higher at age 1 than at birth—a condition that persisted right until the early s.

Today most industrialized countries boast life expectancy figures of more than 75 years , according to comparisons compiled by the Central Intelligence Agency. Some researchers have predicted that lifestyle factors like obesity will halt or even reverse the rise in life expectancy for the first time in modern history.

Epidemiologists and gerontologists such as S. Jay Olshanky warn that in the United States—where two-thirds of the population is overweight or obese—obesity and its complications, like diabetes, could very well reduce life expectancy at all ages in the first half of 21st century. These age-related diseases include coronary artery disease, certain cancers, diabetes, and dementia.

While they can affect quantity and quality of life, many of these conditions can be prevented or at least delayed through healthy lifestyle choices like following an anti-aging diet , maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly and keeping stress hormones like cortisol at bay. Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life.

Caspari R, Lee SH. Is human longevity a consequence of cultural change or modern biology? Am J Phys Anthropol. Scientific American. The Evolution of Grandparents. Published November 1, Early cohort mortality predicts the rate of aging in the cohort: a historical analysis.

J Dev Orig Health Dis. Statistics Canada. Disparities in life expectancy at birth. Countries across the world have been going through an important demographic transition: from young to increasingly ageing populations. In the number of people older than 64 years old surpassed the number of children under 5 years old. This was the first time in history this was the case.

In this chart you can explore the projected age structure of future populations — for any country or world region. Just click on Change Country in the bottom left. Going beyond the global perspective, when did this crossover point occur in countries around the world?

The timing varied significantly between countries — in higher income countries with low fertility rates and longer life expectancies, it has been shifting for decades. In the United States, under-5s were already outnumbered by those older than 64 by In Spain it was ; in South Korea it was For many countries, this crossover point is still to come.

The number of children under 5 years old is projected to peak and plateau for most of the 21st century. Different countries face different challenges. High-income countries with a large elderly population face the same challenge for working-age populations. But how is this expected to change in the future? Since the youth share is not expected to change significantly, this means the share of the population of working-age is expected to fall further. Nigeria currently has a very young population.

But these children and adolescents will move into the working-age bracket soon and share of the productive, working-age population will increase significantly in the coming decades. From an economic perspective, the changing age structure generates very different opportunities and challenges across the spectrum of countries. But as research shows: taking advantage of this opportunity is not a given.

India — as the second-most populous countries and a country that has seen rapid decline in fertility rates in recent decades — has had a large potential demographic dividend. Studies, however, suggest that despite impressive rates of economic growth , India has failed to take full advantage of this possible demographic dividend.

To reap the benefits of this demographic transition a few conditions are required: the labour market and jobs need to be available for young adults to move into; and the employability status of the youth needs to be suitable to fill these jobs. The demographic dividend from a rapid reductions in fertility rates can provide a major opportunity for accelerated economic growth.

But maximising this potential needs a strong policy environment for education, health and job creation. If lower-income countries can achieve this, they could see major economic gains throughout the 21st century.

The global population pyramid. The global population pyramid: How global demography has changed and what we can expect for the 21st century. The Demography of the World Population from to 2. How does median age vary across the world?

In the map we see the median age in all countries in the world. Click to open interactive version. Countries with lower median age tend to have higher population growth rates. How did the age structure of populations change? There are large differences in the age composition of the two countries. We also see a major ageing transition in Japan over the past half-century. By this had more than halved to less than a quarter.

How do dependency ratios vary across the world? It is common in demography to split the population into three broad age groups: children and young adolescents under 15 years old the working-age population years and the elderly population 65 years and older A large share of the population in the working-age bracket is seen as essential to maintain economic and social stability and progress. The age dependency ratio across the world is shown in this map.

The opposite is true in Nigeria. Youth dependency ratio. Old-age dependency ratio.