Life Expectancy

Volume 1, Issue 1 11/24/09

Life Expectancy for Humans

AUSTIN KONG

Symbol of Health Care http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/ politics/dcblog/health%20care.jpg

What is life expectancy?

Generally when most people think will see that the life expectancy about life expectancy, they think has overall grown by a significant that it is the average age the peramount. Based on the increase of son will live to. This is only true life expectancy from birth from for some cases. Life expectancy is one year to the next, scientists can the estimated number of years left make predictions on how the life to live for a person of any age. expectancy of the world will inWhether it is the average number crease in the future. Life expecof years left to live for a person at tancy is calculated by using a life birth or for a person that is 50 table. A life table contains data on years old, it is still the humans or orlife expectancy. The life ganisms that expectancy is not necesshow the age sarily always true since the human/ there are an uncountable organism lived amount of both known to. From this, and unknown factors the total age of that could cause death. It all the people can be used being recorded Life Expectancy Graph from 1840-2040 divided by the for a general http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7179/ age of death total deaths so of people from the area where the far results in the average age of the data is recorded. Life expectancy area. This number subtracted by is important as it can show the the age of the person being calcutrends and rates of human devellated on results in the life expecopment. For example, if you tancy. Scientists can use mortality looked at a graph of the life expecrates generated form the life tables tancy of the world from birth over to create predictions of future life the past two hundred years, you expectancies.

Inside this issue:

What is life expectancy?

1

Life Expectancy and the United States

2

Life Expectancy of the World and its Rankings

2

Comparing Life Expectancies Between Developed and Undeveloped Countries

2

Factors of Life Expectancy

3

The Future of the U.S and the World

3

Bibliography

4

Resources

4

Life Expectancy and the United States The United States’ current life expectancy at birth according to the Central Intelligence Agency is 78.11 years. The Central Intelligence Agency also estimates that the current mortality rate is at 8.38 for every 1000 people for the United States as of July 2009. Over the past few years, the United States’ life expectancy has increased but not as much as what it used to be. The United States is ranked 50th for life expectancy among other countries according to the Central Intelligence Agency. The country is predicted to continue its slow pace of increase in life expectancy. The increase will gradually become smaller and smaller as the mortality rate of the United States decreases.

Life Expectancy of the World and Its Rankings As of 2007, the world life expectancy is 68.9 according to the World Bank World Development Indicators. Like the development of the United States, the world’s life expectancy also has generally increased over the past years. According to the Central Intelligence Agency, the countries estimated with the ten highest life expectancies in 2009 are, listed from high to low: Macau (84.36), Andorra (82.51), Japan (82.12), Singapore (81.98), San Marino (81.97), Hong Kong (81.86), Australia (81.63), Canada (81.23), France (80.98), and Sweden (80.86). The Central Intelligence Agency also estimates that the countries with the five worst life expectancies in 2009 are, listed from low to high: Swaziland (31.99), Angola (38.20), Zambia (38.63), Lesotho (40.38), and Mozambique (41.18).

2007 World Map of Life Expectancies http://www.easypedia.gr/el/images/shared/6/6e/Life_expectancy_world_map.PNG

Comparing Life Expectancies Between Developed and Undeveloped Countries By looking at the data of the countries with higher life expectancies and the countries with lower life expectancies, scientists can conclude that countries that are undeveloped have a lower life expectancy than developed countries. Also, by looking at the data over a certain time period such as the past few centuries, the life expectancy has dramatically increased in the first few centuries and the increase has slowed down after each century. Undeveloped countries generally have a bigger change in life expectancy. This is because it is often easier to lower Page 2

the mortality rate of an undeveloped country as there are a lot more factors that decrease life expectancy that can be solved or helped out. Developed countries such as the United States have already mostly taken care many of the factors that affect undeveloped countries such as basic needs and common medical care. Thus, developed countries have a smaller change in increase of life expectancy than undeveloped countries.

L I F E E X PE CT A N CY F O R HU M A N S

Factors of Life Expectancy The life expectancy can be affected by an uncountable number of factors. Some of these factors are diseases, wars, religions, cultures, and economic status.

Diseases play a huge role in life expectancy. Some environments of which the subjects live in inhabit more diseases than other environments.

These diseases can often kill people thus affecting the mortality rate and life expectancy.

cultures. For example, the Japanese cultures eat foods that give a healthier balance of nutrients.

This helps Japan have a higher life expectancy rate. In contrast to this, Americans eat more unhealthy foods such as fast food. More diseases are caused by the lack or overdose of vitamins and minerals. This decreases the life expectancy of the United States.

Perhaps the factor with the most impact on life expecMalawi Village http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/7085185.jpg tancy and also touches on the some of the other factors is economic status.

People who live in undeveloped Areas where wars are being fought have a major countries generally have a low economic status. impact on life expectancy because of the casualties.

Because of this low economic status, the environSome wars last for several years and can affect the ment they live in can be unclean and have old techlife expectancy constantly including the aftermath nology. These people do not have the benefits of such as WWII. newer technology and thus, they cannot receive Certain religions that provide a certain lifestyle afproper health care and everyday needs. Their lack fect when people will die. For example, Christian of everyday needs put the people on higher risk of Scientists who do not give medical treatment may getting diseases which along with no health care, die earlier than others due to an unhealed injury or causes more deaths and a higher mortality rate in disease. undeveloped countries. This can seriously impact the life expectancy of a country.

Cultures can heavily impact the life expectancy of the area. Each culture have their unique set of cuiGender can also play a factor as females generally sine and diet. From this, certain diets are healthier live longer than males. than others thus creating more illnesses in certain

The Future of the U.S and the World The life expectancy’s rate of increase is expected to slow down in the future as the mortality rate goes down. The undeveloped countries will continue to grow at a higher rate of increase than developed countries. Scientists are able to make estimations for the future by using trends from previous data.

Although these predictions can sometimes be true, they are unreliable. There are many factors that could suddenly appear such as new diseases or a new war may occur. These factors can significantly Life Expectancy Graphs of Sub–Saharan Africa, Benin, Nigeria, and Swaziland impact a country’s life expectancy. Anyhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=dmssa&part=A348&rendertype=figure&id=A361 thing can happen.

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Page 3

Bibliography Bell, Felicitie and Michael Miller. "Life Tables for the United States Social Security Area 1900-2100."

Social Security Online. Social Security Online. August 2005. http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/NOTES/as120/LifeTables_Body.html Bene Zoltan. "Malawi Village." 13 January 2008. Online Image. Panoramio. 22 November 2009. http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/7085185.jpg City of St. Louis Department of Health. 22 November 2009. City of St. Louis Department of Health. 22 November 2009. http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/health/ "health%20care." 9 September 2009. Online Image. SunSentinel. 22 November 2009. http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/dcblog/health%20care.jpg "How is life expectancy calculated?" Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 22 November 2009. 22 November 2009. http://www.aihw.gov.au/mortality/life_expectancy/calculated.cfm Population Reference Bureau. 18 November 2009. Population Reference Bureau. 22 November 2009. http://www.prb.org/pdf06/NIA_FutureofLifeExpectancy.pdf The World Bank. 22 November 2009. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Development Association. 22 November 2009. http://www.worldbank.org/ Thomas Kirkwood. "Life Expectancy around the world has increased steadily for nearly 200 years." 7 February 2008. Online Image. Nature. 22 November 2009. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7179/images/451644a-f1.2.jpg United States. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2009. Web. Wendel, Christopher. Vital Statistics of the United States : Births, Life Expectancy, Deaths and Selected Health Data. Lanham: Bernan Press, 2006 World Bank 2004. "Projected Life Expectancy, Sub-Saharan Africa and Three Selected Countries." 2004. Online Image. National Center for Biotechnology Information. 22 November 2009. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ .

World Health Organization. 22 November 2009. World Health Organization. 22 November 2009. http://www.who.int/en/ "World Life Expectancy Map." Online Image. Earth. 22 November 2009. http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/human-conditions.php

Resources Website: Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/ Book: Vital Statistics of the United States: Births, Life Expectancy, Deaths, and Selected Health Data by Christopher S. Wendel Local: City of St. Louis Department of Health Located on 1520 Market Street, Saint Louis, Missouri, 63178 National: Population Reference Bureau Located on 1875 Connecticut Avenue, Washington D.C, USA