FILE- Emma Morano holds a cake with candles marking 117 years on the day of her birthday, Nov. 29, 2016, in Verbania, Italy. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni

Don’t expect human life expectancy to grow much more, researcher says

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2024-10-08 02:30:02

FILE- Emma Morano holds a cake with candles marking 117 years on the day of her birthday, Nov. 29, 2016, in Verbania, Italy. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Advances in medical technology and genetic research — not to mention larger numbers of people making it to age 100 — are not translating into marked jumps in lifespan overall, according to researchers who found shrinking longevity increases in countries with the longest-living populations.

“We have to recognize there’s a limit” and perhaps reassess assumptions about when people should retire and how much money they’ll need to live out their lives, said S. Jay Olshansky, a University of Illinois-Chicago researcher who was lead author of the study published Monday by the journal Nature Aging.

Mark Hayward, a University of Texas researcher not involved in the study, called it “a valuable addition to the mortality literature.”