Lessons on Longevity from Queen Elizabeth II
How long people can live, and live in good health, may surprise you
Queen Elizabeth II, who died at age 96 today, had a long and storied life, reigning as monarch in Britain longer than anyone in history. But the queen, who must’ve had some good genes and was known for living a relatively healthy and productive existence, didn’t live near as long as a lot of people do these days. Her longevity, nonetheless, is a reminder that life expectancy (how long people live on average) and lifespans (what’s possible) are wildly different.
Average life expectancy for a woman in the UK born in 2020 is 82.9 years.
(Life expectancy predicts a person’s expected lifespan at birth if existing death rates were to remain consistent.)
How’d the queen beat the average by more than a decade? One key was simply making it to her 80s.
“Death rates, which increase exponentially up to about age 80, do decelerate thereafter and reach or closely approach a plateau after age 105,” scientists reported in a 2018 paper. The older you get, according to the logic, the more diseases you’ve avoided or survived, and there’s some not-entirely-understood but obvious robustness that’s carrying you through.
