Life Expectancy

[imoldernu]

When the discussions get hot and heavy, and you don't feel like reading the links and entering the fray, here's a fun thing to do.

Check out your life expectancy. A fun project.

While a visit to the Social Security website gives the simple, quick answer, there are many other ways to explore your expectations for the future. Dozens of different ways to look... Check by health analysis, sex, ethnic background, family genes, occupation, location and many more factors.

My favorite... A check of what my life expectancy was expected to be when I was born. Sheesh.. imagine... back then, I was statistically expected to live to age 59.9. Less than age 60!...

Contrast that, to my current statistical life expectancy effective today.... 88.6.

If it all happens as expected, I'll beat the devil by 28.7 years. And that's without hardly even trying. The bonus that comes from being in the silent generation.

Checked out my coin (and paper money) collection, and found out that my Confederate money is rapidly rising in value.

 

[martyp]

Here is male life expectancy by country

 

[imoldernu]

And another quetion:
Do those who retire early live longer?
Hmmm?

Do those who retire early live longer? - BBC News

... your profession?

 

[6miths]

I think these are some of the most amazing graphs. I was introduced to them in a TedTalk some time ago. Great fun to play with.

Gapminder World

 

[GrayHare]

found out that my Confederate money is rapidly rising in value.

drat, sounds like I made the wrong choice by parking my cash in Federal Reserve notes

 

[ERD50]

...
My favorite... A check of what my life expectancy was expected to be when I was born. Sheesh.. imagine... back then, I was statistically expected to live to age 59.9. Less than age 60!...

Contrast that, to my current statistical life expectancy effective today.... 88.6.

If it all happens as expected, I'll beat the devil by 28.7 years. And that's without hardly even trying. The bonus that come from being in the silent generation. ...

Careful applying those statistics. Life expectancy at birth includes deaths from childhood diseases, accidents, etc. As you pass those, your statistical LE keeps rising ( the 'failures' keep dropping out of the sample). But for you, it is binary, you are alive or not alive (excluding zombies, vampires, etc).

So if that LE table could have looked into the future, it would have said, even back then, that if you made it to your current age, your LE would be 88.6. It's not necessarily anything external that has changed (though it probably accounts for some of it), it's the sample group that has changed.

If you want to see that, you need to look at LE at age 60 (or whatever), back at some earlier time, and compare it with LE at that same age today.


Reminds me of the old joke, the local news is interviewing a man on his 102nd birthday, and the reporter asks, "But aren't you afraid of dying?". The 102 year old says "Naw, I've studied the subject, and very, very few people die between the ages of 102 and 103!".

-ERD50

 

[aja8888]

I think these are some of the most amazing graphs. I was introduced to them in a TedTalk some time ago. Great fun to play with.

Gapminder World

Thanks! Very cool!

 

[Steelart99]

If you follow any of the futurists; Ray Kurzweil (Google's Chief Engineer) being a prime example, then your outlook on life expectancy might change. In his book "The Singularity is Near" he lays out the concept and supporting information indicating that the exponential growth we are experiencing now in medicine, robotics, nanotechnology, computers, etc. is reaching a point where many of us could possibly live far, far longer than what the noted linear charts indicate. The singularity is a point where progress is so rapid it outstrips humans' ability to comprehend it ... his estimate is that this should occur by 2045. His famous quote (and title of one of his books) is "Live Long Enough to Live Forever."

Personally, I plan to live to at least 300 ... dang .... gotta start saving way, way more ...

 

[6miths]

The software version of our consciousness can't be too far into the future. Will make backing up a little more imperative!

 

[grasshopper]

It is all the dash between the dates. And turtles all the way down.