Abstract
In the twentieth century mankind has witnessed an extraordinary increase in life expectancy, at least in the so-called developed countries. Mean life expectancy at birth in my country rose between 1900 and 1985 from 51 years to nearly 74 years (+45%) for men and from 53 to 80 years (+51%) for women (Knook, 1988). Also at higher ages an increase was observed, for example in the same period of time, life expectancy for 65-year olds rose from 11 to 14 years (+27%) for men and from 11 to 18 years (+64%) for women. It is a well-known fact however that the observed quantitative changes were not matched by a proportional increase in qualitative good life expectancy. Despite many studies, conferences and books on gerontology, growing older often implies illnesses, disablements, and suffering. There is a clear discrepancy between the gain in years and the net gain in healthy years. Besides, although the increase in years has been considerable, there is still a big gap between life expectancy and maximal life span, which is about 110 – 115 years.
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Goedhard, W.J.A. (1995). Does Work Stress Enhance the Rate of Aging?. In: Heikkinen, E., Kuusinen, J., Ruoppila, I. (eds) Preparation for Aging. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1979-9_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1979-9_18
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