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Practicing College Learning Strategies
, Third Edition
Carolyn H. Hopper, Middle Tennessee State University
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Chapter 9: Aging in the future
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People today are living longer than people did in the past. If the trend continues, most people in the future will live increasingly longer than we do now. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, by July of 2002 the average life expectancy for males is projected to be 71.0 years, and for females, 76.0 years. By 2050 it is projected to be 79.8 for males, 84.0 for females. By the year 2100 the average male is projected to live to be 82.8 years old and the average female is projected to live to be 86.6 years old.
Another interesting statistic: in 2002 it is projected that there will be a total of 76,000 people 100 years old or over living in the United States (incidentally, 86.1% of them will be female). By 2100, the number of persons 100 years and older is projected to be 5,323,000 (only 61.8% of them will be female). That is an increase of over 5 million people!
What does this mean? How do you think a longer life expectancy will change our view of aging? Already fewer and fewer people are retiring at 65; the fastest growing age group in the workforce is currently persons 45 to 64 years old. What will this mean to you 50 or 100 years in the future?
One thing is for sure, take care of your body; you're going to have it for longer than ever before.
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