It seems that we’re living longer these days because we’re eating better foods and exercising more than we had been. Does that mean that we are going to last longer?
Here’s an article on this subject by Sophie Quinton at the National Journal:
“So many Americans are living past 85 that it may push the designation of ‘oldest of the old’ from 85-plus to 90 and older, according to a Census Bureau report released Thursday.
By 2050, the United States is likely to have 9 million people 90 and older, the report projected. In 1980, only 720,000 Americans were around who had lived past their 90th birthdays. That number grew to 1.9 million last year.
“Can 90 be the new 85?” asked Dr. Richard Suzman of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health.
“Because of increasing numbers of older people and increases in life expectancy at older ages, the oldest segments of the older population are growing the fastest,” added Suzman, whose agency commissioned the report.