Average life expectancy around the world has climbed steadily over the past 100 years. But longevity seems to have topped out at about 120 years.
To some researchers, this suggests there's a natural limit to how long humans can live--and we've pretty much reached it.
Others say, in effect, that past performance doesn't guarantee future results. New and emerging medical technologies, they say, might be able to slow aging to such an extent that not only will we live much longer, but we'll stay biologically "younger" well into what used to be old age.
Growing Older: Average projected life expectancy at birth, in years, through 2100. For high-income countries, from 2095 to 2100 men could reach up to 90 years and women over 90 years old.
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2017 Revision of World Population Prospects.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, June 25, 2018.