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August 19, 2004 at 08:00 PM
Obesity and poverty may be cutting about a year off the average life expectancy of 65-year-old U.S. women.[@@]
Researchers at the Boston College Center for Retirement Research reach that conclusion in a new study on trends in life expectancy in developed countries at age 65.
Alicia Munnell, Robert Hatch and James Lee, the researchers, note that U.S. men have had mediocre life expectancies at age 65 for decades. Older men in countries such as Japan and France have been able to look forward to more years of life since at least the 1960s, the researchers write.
Average life expectancies for older men have been improving throughout the developed world, but 65-year-old U.S. men continue to rank near the middle of the pack, with an average life expectancy of about 16 years, the researchers write.
In 1975, 65-year-old U.S. women enjoyed some of the longest life expectancies in the developed world. They could look forward to an average of 18 years of additional life, compared with an average of about 17 years for 65-year-old women in other developed countries. Since then, life expectancies for 65-year-old women in most developed countries have risen to more than 20 years, but the average for 65-year-old U.S. women has risen only 1 year, to about 19 years.
When the Boston College researchers ranked life expectancy figures for 65-year-old women in 30 developed countries, they found that the U.S. slipped to 18th in 1999, from 2nd in 1980.
