Increased French Life Expectancy

[letrangere]

An AFP report this morning comments on the 2004 annual report from INED which found that French women can now expect to live for 83,8 years and men for 76,7 - an average of more than 80 years for the first time ever.  A woman born in France today has a 1:2 chance of living beyond 94, 16% will reach 100!  Only in Japan do people live longer, France leads in Europe ahead of Spain, Italy and Britain.  US average is 77,2. 

Report believes improvement due to advances in the fight against cancer and heart disease, more extensive screening and lower rates of smoking and alcoholism, particularly among men.

Obviously, as elsewhere, there are now fears of problems of ageing population but what's particularly interesting in France is that the birth rate (1,9 per woman) is higher than many any EU countries (it's 1,3 in Italy, Spain, Germany & Poland). 

M

[Iceni]

"what's particularly interesting in France is that the birth rate (1,9 per woman)"

So to play the statistics game -

if 1/3 of the female population is beyond child bearing age this puts the avge up to 2.85

if 1/3 of child bearing age are lesbians, nuns, those too sensible to have children etc the avge goes up to 4.27 - not surprising if the rumours of tax breaks are true.

Lies, damned lies and statistics (was that WEG or Dizzy ?)

John

not

[Clarkkent]

And are these projected ages means or medians? Having seen the quality of life that many old people "enjoy", I don't think that I particularly want to live to a very old age.

 

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics" - Dizzy

Mark Twain had some interesting comments too:

"Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable."

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please"

And Evan Esar (who?)

"Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions."

 

 

 

[Teamedup]

It was always said that the women of the Toulouse region and that women of an area of China were the healthiest in the world and lived the longest.

I'm not actually convinced that these new figures will work out. French women don't cook like they used to. Many smoke to cut their appetites and keep slim. My neighbour, who does cook says that most of her colleagues live on conserves and ready made meals mainly frozen. Hardly the traditional healthy french diet as everywhere these products are loaded with salts and sugars.

[Dick Smith]

If these are actuarial figures they won't be wrong - insurance companies like making money too much!

[Val_2]

I have to say it but if some of the french don't improve their driving habits,they won't live very long anyway!

[Mochas]

Reading the comments about reductions in use of tobacco and alcohol and the less than appealing quality of life of some older folk reminds me of Kingsley Amis's observation:

"There is nothing in life worth foregoing if the only benefit is an extra two years in a nursing home in Weston-Super-Mare."

I think he had a point.

[letrangere]

"There is nothing in life worth foregoing if the only benefit is an extra two years in a nursing home in Weston-Super-Mare."

Oh, absolutely, OH and I said exactly the same thing after reading subject article.  Living to a ripe old age is fine if you have sufficient health to enjoy it (which, admitedly, more people do these days) but the idea of spending even more years than before in nursing home in a state of gaga does not appeal to us one bit.

And it crossed my mind that advances in medical science and cutting out smoking is all fair and well but doing something about road deaths would help a great deal too.

Despite fishing newspaper out of bin, I'm afraid I can't answer some of the questions raised above.  Reading between the lines, I think the figures were based on recorded births in France.  It concludes "population (excluding overseas territories) rose to 60,6 million in 2004, the annual increase of 361,000 being the largest recorded in 30 years". 

M

[SaligoBay]

It's a mystery how they work it all out.  According to the Midi Libre:

En 2003, l'espérance de vie « avait stagné en raison de la mortalité exceptionnelle de la canicule », qui avait fait près de 15 000 morts.

So if there hadn't been a heatwave in 2003, these new babes born in 2005 would have even longer lives ahead of them....  isn't Nature wonderful! 

http://www.midilibre.com/actuv2/article.php?num=1111605184

[Iceni]

"There is nothing in life worth foregoing if the only benefit is an extra two years in a nursing home in Weston-Super-Mare."

When I can no longer enjoy doing the things I enjoy doing it will be time for me to leave. I cannot be prosecuted if I am successful but anyone who helps me to go, may be. That situation has always seemed a tad illogical but what's new ? Perhaps this is why France will not allow me to stockpile 400 mg Ibuprofen, only 200 mg.

John

not

[SaligoBay]

It is illogical, John, but there's no universally right answer.   I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to keep living like Terry Schiavo or Vincent Humbert, and I find it hard to believe that anyone would.  Yet did you see the pictures of the protesters outside her hospital, all those people with LIFE stickers over their mouths?     

It's a moral conundrum that gets more twisty the more you look into it, it touches so many other issues.  For those who are so-minded, it's an easy way to get rid of someone sooner than Nature might have intended, that's not too difficult to imagine, didn't Harold Shipman try this one on?  There are theological issues, there are financial issues, it's just a whole can of worms. 

Of course, in an ideal world, we would have the resources to judge each case on its own merits, but an ideal world....... that's only in fairytales and the Watchtower magazine!