When I was born 89 years ago I had 3 great grandmothers and one great grandfather still living. Two of them lived into their 80's. Luckily, I must have inherited their genes.

On the other hand, my mother was only 67 when she died and my father was about 73.

The same death age probably is as true two generations ago as it is now.

I do think that modern medicine is allowing more people to live longer than they would have a generation ago and that may skew the statistics.

At 103 Mom died this March.
Her G Grand Mom died at 99...
My PLAN is to go a tad or just
a few minutes after Mom!

I've not seen a doctor in about 3 years. Eat Vegan only.

I am healthy & 83 in 1 month.

I'm still putting a lot of credence in the telomere theory, while acknowledging the value of healthy eating and exercise (though neither of which I practice as well as I should). I've been looking closely at the ages in our regional obituaries in the Sunday paper, and I've noticed that the they seem to average around 70-something, though there are a lot of 90+ these days.

It's absolutely true that we read over and over that humans are living a lot longer than they used to. And often from academics and others who should understand demographics better than they seem to.

Certainly, we've made great advances in reducing death in childbirth and in development of vaccines for childhood diseases, such as whooping cough.

An interesting way to think about demographics is to consider this question: At what age is a person least likely to die?

It turns out in the developed countries that it's about 11 or 12. At that age, children have survived being born and have had their vaccinations.

And they have not yet entered the risky teen-age years, often involving drinking, use of drugs, driving, perhaps use of use of guns and other dangerous activities.

You're right, the increase in life expectancy is largely due to better infant mortality rates. Still and all, I'm 65 years old, and I'm glad to know that my life expectancy is 3 years longer -- or about 20% longer -- than my parents. Also, due to modern medicine, older people live more mobile and less painful lives than our parents. So while your point is well taken, don't just look on the dark side -- there's a bright side as well.

this reconfirms what i have always held to be true. in my readings, i nearly always note the death age of peoples in the long ago, and have seen the ages to be not significantly unlike those from modern times. what has changed, of course, is the rate of infant mortality, and the plagues of common diseases now extinct or nearly so. (a pox on the anti-vaxers)

Simian Virus 40 in polio vaccines in mid-20th century (google it; it's a well-established fact, corroborated by the National Institutes of Health website) have probably cut short some lives through various cancers; the birth control pill undoubtedly made breast cancer epidemic. Gains are improved infant and maternal mortality numbers and the fact that most men do not go to war (WWI and WWII were big killers). Smoking is still a huge killer with a decades-long latency, causing 30-odd types of cancer. Worldwide, smoking is a form of tolerated genocide that is expected to kill more people than any war in history. Still, if we manage to avoid these pitfalls, our increased sanitation, shelter and diet are the factors that contribute most to our longevity, along with enough leisure time to avoid exhaustion, unlike medieval serfs who died of exposure, starvation and malnutrition. Improved medical care (in some areas only) contributes somewhat, but not as much as better sanitation, more space, better food and enough rest.

Yeah it's one big con by the government - people aren't living any longer at all. My grandad was 91 and my grandma was 88 but my dad was 78 and my mum was 73, doesn't make sense. My grandma never worked and my grandad didn't have a stressful job but today we have stressful jobs and we're dying younger.

We should all retire at 60, our pensions in the U.K. are one of the lowest so I don't understand this government.

I have worked all my life and I am now nearly 62 - it stinks!!!!!!

All mentioned both positive and negative are true.. Vaccination, developed countries, healthy lifestyle, access to healthcare contributes to a longer life and polution, stress, poverty, poor quality standard of living for under developed countries contributes to a shorter lifespan.
Even if you are in a fully developed country with access to everything but you keep on taking drugs with a lot of vices and no excercise chances are you can’t maximise your lifespan. on the otherway around even if you are in poverty but you are trying all your effort to be healthy by not consuming drugs, having enough sleep, excercise etc etc then you can maximise your lifespan.
There is alot of factor in ones life
Genes, location, job, family environment, relationship, food etcetc and this is hard for a statistician to get an accurate data.
Accurate data may only be valid for a particular same scenario with a little variation as a purpose of comparison but not whole life of a human because of too much factors involved.
In historical times humans can only lived up to 50 but now it is higher and we can combat the deseases that we cant cure before. It is also true that new desease are being discovered and occurs at an early stage because of the environment and food that we eat. It is hard to make a general conclusion but I know for a fact that scientist and modern science has contributed a lot to increase and lenghten the lifespan of humans. We ourselves should do our part by following things that has been proven to be effective to increase lifespan. This debate has been fueled by wrong information because of other issue such as retirement age and insurance thus confusing us on the real issue.

None of you are aware that all the worlds media is now owned and run by the same group of people. We are dying younger and we are being lied to about it. Do some research. People talk of corruption but never exactly who is behind it. Ask yourself who owns it all.