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"In some hand wavy statistical sense, those old people you see bagging groceries probably would have been dead 50 years ago." No, some proportion of them would
by rsync 11y ago
"In some hand wavy statistical sense, those old people you see bagging groceries probably would have been dead 50 years ago."
No, some proportion of them would have been dead between 0 and 3 years old (which is what brings down the life expectancy numbers dramatically) but 100 years ago those 50 year olds would still be living to 60, just like they do now.
- maxerickson 11y agoLife expectancy at middle ages has expanded quite a bit: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html A 20 year old can expect to live well into their 70s rather than just reaching 60 (so an expectancy of ~55 years compared to 40 years). But sure, the gains are mostly from early survival rates.