Life expectancy gains are slowing, meaning it might be time for society to rethink the age at which people should retire and how much money they will need to save to live out the rest of their lives, the first author of a study published Monday in Nature Aging told the Associated Press.
Although human life expectancy has edged up over the past century, it’s unlikely to continue to lengthen much more, the researchers concluded. They studied longevity in Australia, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.
“Most people alive today at older ages are living on time that was manufactured by medicine,” lead researcher S. Jay Olshansky, PhD, of the University of Illinois-Chicago, said in an article posted to the university website. “But these medical Band-Aids are producing fewer years of life even though they’re occurring at an accelerated pace, implying that the period of rapid increases in life expectancy is now documented to be over.”
Former President Jimmy Carter reached the milestone of 100 years last week, but that age still represents atypical longevity. According to the study, just slightly more than 2% of Americans made it to 100 last year.
Although more people may reach 100 years and beyond in this century, those cases will remain outliers that won’t move average life expectancy significantly higher, Olshansky said.
“We have to recognize there’s a limit,” he told the Associated Press.
The average age of senior living residents is increasing, however. Twenty years ago, NCAL Executive Director LaShuan Bethea said Sunday at NCAL Day in Orlando, FL, the average age was in the 75-to-80 year range. Today, however, the average age of an assisted living resident is around 85, “and growing by a couple of months every year,” Bethea said.
The goal in 2024, on average, is to save approximately $1.8 million for retirement, which is the same as last year, according to the results of a survey released in August by Charles Schwab. Workers said they expect their nest egg to last 23 years after they retire at age 65.
