Quote from jzlucas:
This is wrong.
The estimated life expectancy at birth in years for 1907 was 47.6 for all races and both genders according to the National Vital Statistics Report. It is now 77, thanks to advances in medicine. They are PROLONGING our life.
What makes life expectancy go up?
The popular media often imply that increases in life expectancy are due to the wonders of modern medicine. This is false. Increases in life expectancy are due almost entirely to a decrease in the infant mortality rate.
Infant Mortality Rates
Infant mortality rates are statistics based on the number of infants born alive who do not survive. High infant mortality rates mean that many children are dying at an extremely young age. As more and more infants survive birth and early childhood, the infant mortality rates go down. And as these children grow into adulthood, their "additional" years of life make the average age at death go up.
Infant mortality in the U.S. has decreased from more than 100 per 1,000 in 1920 to 10.9 today. During this same time, life expectancy has been said to have increased from 54 to 74 years.
At first glance it looks like people are living 20 years longer now than in the past. But this figure is misleading because it is just an average. It could mistakenly lead you to think that in 1920 most people lived to approximately 54 years of age and that now they live to approximately 74. This is not the case.
Consider these facts. In 1920 an adult 60 years old could expect to live an average of 16 more years, to about 76. Today an adult 60 years old can expect to live 20 more years, to about 80. That is only a four-year difference that appears in the life expectancy figures.
Adults are not living 20 years longer now than they did in 1920. In fact, adults today live little longer than they did in 1920, which is before the development of the powerful modern medications that are often credited with life extension. What has dramatically improved is our chance of surviving to 60.
Lies and Statistics
Mark Twain proclaimed that, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." Surely he is not alone in the conclusion that statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics. The statistics commonly used to describe "advances" in the area of life expectancy are misleading, at best.
The number of Americans who could expect to live to age 60 in 1830 was only one-third. By 1900 it was one-half. By 1940 it increased to two-thirds. And today, the number who survives to age 60 is over 80%.
People are still dying prematurely, compared to what is believed to be our genetically determined maximum life span. But what we are dying from has changed greatly.