The thing that stands out most to me is that while life expectancy has steadily increased from 41 in 1845 to 77 in 2006, life span has not increased nearly as much; even in 1845, some people were living into their late 90's.
The chart below better represents the point that life expectancy is increasing, but life span, not so much. The chart comes from the presentation delivered by David Sinclair at the Rand Summer Institute called Aging Research: What and When Will Be the Impact on Society? I highly recommend viewing at least chapters 1 through 8, but chapters 9 and above were a bit too technical for me. [Hat tip to Geary Behavioral Economics Blog]
But wait, there's good news: Aubrey de Gray, in one of my favorite TED talks ever, convinces me that aging is not inevitable, and that life span can be considerably increased.
Other interesting things . . .
Wikipedia offers this table of life expectancy throughout human history:
| Humans by Era | Average Lifespan at Birth (years) | |
|---|---|---|
| Upper Paleolithic | 33 | |
| Neolithic | 20 | |
| Bronze Age[5] | 18 | |
| Bronze age, Sweden[6] | 40-60 | |
| Classical Greece[7] | 20-30 | |
| Classical Rome[8] | 20-30 | |
| Pre-Columbian North America[9] | 25-35 | |
| Medieval Islamic Caliphate[10] | 35+ | |
| Medieval Britain[14][15] | 20-30 | |
| Early 20th Century[16][17] | 30-40 | |
| Current world average[18][19] | 70 (2008 est.) |
And here is what life expectancy looks like in the world today:
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Related:
The geography of life expectancy in the US
BMI and life expectancy
