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Friday 15 January 2016

Life Expectancy

Life expectancy at birth probably averaged only about ten years for most of human history.

Life expectancy in Ancient Rome was just 25 years.

The UK’s first life assurance company was set up in 1706 by Sir Thomas Allen and William Talbot, Bishop of Oxford. In a clue to life expectancy in those days, the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office insured people aged only between 15 and 45.

By the mid twentieth century, the advances in sickness prevention and curing meant that for the first time since early Old Testament times, in the western world life expectancy reached 70 years.

Worldwide, the average life expectancy stands at 68.5 years for men and 73.5 years for women.

The worst continent for longevity is Africa where it is just 58.

Life expectancy at birth by region, 1960-2045. By Rcragun - Own work, CC BY 3.0, $3

Andorra boasts the highest life expectancy in the world (83.51 years 2008)

25% of Russian men die before reaching 55, compared with 7% in the UK and less than 1% in the US. Vodka is cited as the cause for the low life expectancy.

People getting only 6 to 7 hours of sleep every night have a longer life expectancy than those who sleep 8 hours.

Two-thirds of all the people who have ever lived past age 65 in the entire history of the world are alive today.

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