Average Lifespan Confusion
Thursday, November 27th, 2008Over the years I’ve been amazed at the confusion most people have about average lifespan statistics. This confusion arises from the fact that the statistics generally shared in the media are for lifespan at birth, not lifespan from your present age. Let me explain:
If you are born today your average lifespan in the U. S. is 77.8 years (both sexes, all races). But if you’re 75 today, your average lifespan is not another 2.8 years, but another 12 years! The longer you live, the more your expectancy average increases simply because you’ve dodged more of the things that would take your life. Statistically you have fewer “opportunties” to lose your life the older you get. Each year you live the average lifespan extends a little, as shown in these 2005 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control:
AGE REMAINING YEARS TOTAL LIFESPAN
0 77.8 77.8
5 73.5 78.5
10 68.5 78.5
15 63.6 78.6
20 58.8 78.8
25 54.1 79.1
30 49.3 79.3
35 44.6 79.6
40 39.9 79.9
45 35.3 80.3
50 30.9 80.9
55 26.7 81.7
60 22.6 82.6
65 18.7 83.7
70 15.2 85.2
75 12.0 87.0
80 9.2 89.2
85 6.8 91.8
90 5.0 95.0
95 3.6 98.6
100 2.6 102.6
Note that at age 5 or at age 10, odds are you’ll live to be the same age — 78.5 years, but if you live to be 100, your average lifespan will have increased 4.0 years over what it was at age 95.
Monte Kline
Source: Life Expectancy at Selected Ages by Race and Sex: United States, 2005, http://www.disastercenter.com/cdc/Life%20expectancy%202005.html
