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Information About Life Expectancy
Longevity, life expectancy, and life span are related terms. Longevity refers to the length of a person's life, or their life expectancy. Life expectancy represents the average life span, usually of an infant, and it is often used as an indicator of the overall health of a population. Maximum life span is simply the highest age ever reached by a human being. While life expectancy continues to increase in many areas of the world, maximum life span has remained relatively unchanged (i.e., the longest any human being has been able to live has remained approximately 122 years). Life expectancy figures can be misleading, because they are simply an average. Countries with high infant mortality rates will often have a lower life expectancy. For example, compare a life expectancy of 75 years in a First World country and a life expectancy of 40 years in a Third World country. It is not true that very few people live to be older than 40 in the Third World country. Rather, their chances of living to be 40 are less; once they reach 40, their life expectancy would be very similar to someone in the First World Country. Therefore, the average number of years a person can expect to live beyond a certain age, e.g., the number of years a 10-year-old can expect to live or a 65-year-old can expect to live, is often used as a way to more accurately depict a population's average life expectancy. Life expectancy is influenced by a variety of things, including genetics, gender, lifestyle, occupation, war, and disease. Improvements in medicine, public health, and nutrition have resulted in higher life expectancies in many places around the world. |
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Dakota State Data Center at North
Dakota State University, P.O. Box 5636, Fargo, ND 58105 Phone: 701-231-7980 ^ Fax: 701-231-9730 ^ Richard Rathge, Ph.D., Director ^ Ramona Danielson, Webmaster |
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