Pension age and the rising lifespan | Scientific minute

Pension age and the rising lifespan – how are they related?
Life span throughout the developed world rises, and some countries, mostly in Europe, plan to raise the pension age because of that.

It is long known that there is a positive correlation between the number of years in pension, and the extent of cognitive decline, and therefore, delaying pension age is expected to prevent some of the social and medical burdens of age-related cognitive decline.

New research published in the journal ‘Nature aging’ estimated future changes in life expectancy and healthy working lifetime, which signifies the period in which people engage in paying jobs without health conditions.

The conclusion they reached is that between 2015-2035, men will gain 3.7 years of lifespan, but only 0.38 healthy working years.

In Women, life expectancy is expected to rise in 2.46 years, and 1.08 healthy working years.

Therefore, as the pension age rises worldwide, significant measures are needed to close the growing gap between life expectancy and healthy working life.

Link to the original research:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-021-00161-0

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-black-suit-leaning-on-white-table-3782192/