Relationships between best-practice and greatest possible life expectancies.

Authors :: de Souza FC
Source :: European journal of ageing [Eur J Ageing] 2019 Dec 14; Vol. 17 (3), pp. 331-339. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Dec 14 (Print Publication: 2020).
Publication Year :: 2019
Abstract: This paper investigated the relationships between the best-practice and the greatest possible life expectancies by means of gaps, lags and decomposition analyses, from 1950-1955 up to 2095-2100. The data were gathered from the United Nations' World Population Prospects (2017), containing abridged period life tables, for both sexes combined, for 201 countries or areas, which allowed the identification of low-mortality regions that are sometimes omitted in previous studies. It was observed that both best-practice and greatest possible life expectancies rose and are expected to continue to rise linearly in a very similar way. Moreover, the average gap between the best-practice and the greatest possible life expectancies was of about 1.14 years and the average lag was 7.59 years. Finally, it was found that major contributions to the gap are typically due to age groups beyond 65 years.<br />Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe author declares that he has no conflict of interest.<br /> (© Springer Nature B.V. 2019.)