Silver Book Fact
Rise in life expectancy by 2050
Government forecasts may have underestimated life expectancy by inadvertently leaving out the effect of advances in biomedical techology that delay the onset of disease or slow the aging process. Results from the study indicate that in 2050, the rise in life expectancy at birth for men and women combined may be closer to 7.9 years, not 3.1 as currently forecasted by the U.S. Social Security Administration and U.S. Census Bureau.
Olshansky S, Goldman D, Zheng Y, Rowe J. Aging in America in the Twenty-first Century: Demographic forecasts from the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society. Milbank Quarterly. 2009; 87(4). http://www.milbank.org/870404.html