The word "
longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "
life expectancyLife expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e
x, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
" in
demographyDemography is the statistical study of all populations. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
. However, this is not the most popular or accepted definition. For the general public as well as writers, the word generally connotes "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected (an "ancient" tree, for example).
Reflections on longevity have usually gone beyond acknowledging the brevity of human life and have included thinking about methods to extend life. Longevity has been a topic not only for the scientific community but also for writers of travel,
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
, and
utopiaUtopia is a name for an ideal community or society, that is taken from Of the Best State of a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system...
n novels.
There are many difficulties in authenticating the longest human lifespan ever by modern verification standards, due to inaccurate or incomplete birth statistics. Fiction, legend, and folklore have proposed or claimed lifespans in the past or future vastly longer than those verified by modern standards, and longevity narratives and unverified
longevity claimsLongevity claims are individual claims to extreme human longevity . Many individual claims have either no verification or only partial evidence; longevity claims that have been fully verified according to the standards of the Gerontology Research Group and/or the Guinness Book of World Records are...
frequently speak of their existence in the present.
A
life annuityA life annuity is a financial contract in the form of an insurance product according to which a seller —typically a financial institution such as a life insurance company—makes a series of payments in the future to the buyer in exchange for the immediate payment of a lumpsum or a...
is a form of
longevity insuranceLongevity insurance, insuring longevity, is designed to pay to the policyholder a benefit if he or she survives to a pre-established future age....
.
History
A remarkable statement mentioned by
Diogenes LaertiusDiogenes Laërtius , was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is known about his life. He must have lived after...
(c. 250) is the earliest (or at least one of the earliest) references about
plausible centenarian longevity given by a scientist, the astronomer
HipparchusHipparchus, the common Latinization of the Greek Hipparkhos, can mean:* Hipparchus, the ancient Greek astronomer** Hipparchic cycle, an astronomical cycle he created** Hipparchus , a lunar crater named in his honour...
of Nicea (c. 185 – c. 120 B.C.), who, according to the doxographer, was
assured that the philosopher Democritus of Abdera (c. 470/460 – c. 370/360 B.C.) lived 109 years. All other accounts given by the ancients about the age of Democritus appear, without giving any specific age, to agree that the philosopher lived over 100 years. This possibility is likely, given that many ancient Greek philosophers are thought to have lived over the age of 90 (e.g., Xenophanes of Colophon, c. 570/565 – c. 475/470 B.C.,
PyrrhoPyrrho , a Greek philosopher of classical antiquity, is credited as being the first Skeptic philosopher, and the inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC.- Life :...
of Ellis, c. 360 – c. 270 B.C.,
EratosthenesEratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, elegiac poet, athlete, geographer, and astronomer. He made several discoveries and inventions including a system of latitude and longitude...
of Cirene, c. 285 – c. 190 B.C., etc.). The case of Democritus is different from the case of, for example,
EpimenidesEpimenides of Knossos was a semi-mythical 6th century BC Greek seer and philosopher-poet, who is said to have fallen asleep for fifty-seven years in a Cretan cave sacred to Zeus, after which he reportedly awoke with the gift of prophecy....
of Crete (7th, 6th centuries B.C.), who is said to have lived 154, 157 or 290 years, as has been said about countless elders even during the last centuries as well as in the present time. These cases are not verifiable by modern means.
Present life expectancy
Various factors contribute to an individual's longevity. Significant factors in life expectancy include
genderGender commonly refers to the set of characteristics that humans perceive as distinguishing between male and female entities, extending from one's biological sex to, in humans, one's social role or gender identity. As a term, "gender" has more than one valid definition...
,
geneticsGenetics, , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding...
, access to
health careHealth care , is the treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by the medical, dental, complementary and alternative medicine, pharmaceutical, clinical laboratory sciences , nursing, and allied health professions...
,
hygieneHygiene, refers to the set of practices associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. Hygiene is a concept related to medicine, as well as to personal and professional care practices related to most aspects of living, although it is most often associated with cleanliness and...
, diet and
nutritionNutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
, exercise,
lifestyleLifestyle was originally coined by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in 1929. The current broader sense of the word dates from 1961.In sociology, a lifestyle is the way a person lives. A lifestyle is a characteristic bundle of behaviors that makes sense to both others and oneself in a given time...
, and crime rates. Below is a list of life expectancies in different types of countries:
- First World
The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were used to divide nations into three broad categories. The three terms did not arise simultaneously. After World War II, people began to speak of the NATO and Warsaw Pact countries as two major blocs, often using such terms as the "Western...
: 77–83 years (e.g. CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
: 80.1 years, 2005 est.)
- Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO or communism and the Soviet Union...
: 35–60 years (e.g. MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. It was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498...
: 40.3 years, 2005 est.)
Population longevities can be seen as increasing due to increases in life expectancies around the world:
- Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
: 81.02 years in 2002, 82.31 years in 2005
- Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
: 80 years in 2002, 80.39 years in 2005
- Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
: 79.25 years in 2002, 79.68 years in 2005
- France
France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
: 79.05 years in 2002, 79.60 years in 2005
- Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
: 77.78 years in 2002, 78.65 years in 2005
- UK
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
: 77.99 years in 2002, 78.4 years in 2005
- USA
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
: 77.4 years in 2002, 77.7 years in 2005
Long-lived individuals
The
Gerontology Research GroupThe Gerontology Research Group was started in either 1990 or 1992, and is a global egroup of researchers in gerontology, some of whom also meet monthly at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. As the name suggests, the primary function of the group is to further gerontology research, with the objective...
validates current longevity records by modern standards, and maintains a list of supercentenarians; many other unvalidated
longevity claimsLongevity claims are individual claims to extreme human longevity . Many individual claims have either no verification or only partial evidence; longevity claims that have been fully verified according to the standards of the Gerontology Research Group and/or the Guinness Book of World Records are...
exist. Record-holding individuals include:
- Jeanne Calment
Jeanne Louise Calment was a French woman with the longest confirmed lifespan in history at age 122 years 164 days . She lived in Arles, France, for her entire life, and outlived both her daughter and grandson...
(1875–1997, 122 years, 164 days): the oldest person in history whose age has been verified by modern documentation. This defines the modern human lifespan, which is set by the oldest documented individual who ever lived.
- Shigechiyo Izumi
was a Japanese supercentenarian and, according to Guinness World Records, became the oldest living person after the death of Niwa Kawamoto, also from Japan. If his claimed birth-date is correct, he died aged 120 years and 237 days, older than any other recognized man, and was the second-longest...
(1865?–1986, 120 years, 237 days, disputed): the oldest male ever recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records; this is questioned by some scholars, who believe that conflationConflation occurs when the identities of two or more individuals, concepts, or places, sharing some characteristics of one another, become confused until there seems to be only a single identity — the differences appear to become lost...
of dates or names has compromised the authenticity of Izumi's age.
- Christian Mortensen
Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Mortensen , known as an adult as Christian Mortensen, was a Danish-American supercentenarian. By the time he died, he had become the oldest male ever whose age is undisputed, although the Guinness Book of World Records still ranks him second to the disputed...
(1882–1998, 115 years, 252 days): the oldest male with undisputed modern documentation.
Longevity narratives
Longevity narratives or longevity stories are cultural traditions and lore about exceptional, improbable, or impossible human longevity, with or without
eternal youthEternal youth is the concept of human physical immortality free of aging. The youth referred to is usually meant to be in contrast the depredations of aging, rather than a specific age of the human lifespan....
. These stories include sincere beliefs of claims of extreme age as well as sincerely and insincerely exaggerated claims of extreme age. Each category of belief is based on a different motivation for claiming exceptional age.
Stories of exaggerated longevity have been around since the earliest civilizations. The first longevity narratives were probably the patriarchal/matriarchal claims, which are often an attempt to link humans to the gods or to
GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
due to fuller life. In some religious traditions there are claims that, if one follows a certain philosophy or practice, one can become
immortalImmortality is a concept of eternal life.Immortality, Immortal or Immortals may also refer to:-People:* Thirty-six Poetry Immortals, a group of medieval Japanese poets...
or at least live to an extreme age.
Fountain of YouthThe Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters.Florida is often said to be its location, and stories of the fountain are some of the most persistent associated with the state...
narratives describe some natural source, potion, or other secret that provides healing and particularly longevity and youthful health (eternal youth). An extension and adaptation of the fountain of youth concept is the idea that a particular place, rather than a substance, carries what is needed to attain extreme age, and that a person seeking extreme longevity needs to move to a special district. Nationalist pride often contributes to motivate such tradition. Other longevity narratives are race-based or family-based, proposing unproven beliefs that a certain race or tribe tends to live longer than others.
The village elder narrative reflects a preliterate societal respect for aging, patriarchy, etc., that leads to exceptional age claims intended to venerate the oldest person in the village.
In the "
P. T. BarnumPhineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. His successes may have made him the first "show business" millionaire...
" longevity stories, one claims to be a great age to attract attention to oneself and/or to obtain money.
Future
The U.S. Census Bureau view on the future of longevity is that life expectancy in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
will be in the mid-80s by 2050 (up from 77.85 in 2006) and will top out eventually in the low 90s, barring major scientific advances that can change the rate of human aging itself, as opposed to merely treating the effects of aging as is done today. The Census Bureau also predicted that the United States would have 5.3 million people aged over 100 in 2100. The
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
has also made projections far out into the future, up to 2300, at which point it projects that life expectancies in most developed countries will be between 100 and 106 years and still rising, though more and more slowly than before. These projections also suggest that life expectancies in poor countries will still be less than those in rich countries in 2300, in some cases by as much as 20 years. The UN itself mentioned that gaps in life expectancy so far in the future may likely not exist, especially since the exchange of technology between rich and poor countries and the industrialization and development of poor countries may cause their life expectancies to fully converge with those of rich countries long before that point, similarly to how life expectancies between rich and poor countries have already been converging over the last 60 years as better medicine, technology, and living conditions became accessible to many people in poor countries. The UN has warned that these projections are uncertain, and caution that any change or advancement in medical technology could invalidate their projections.
Recent increases in the rates of
lifestyle diseasesLifestyle diseases are diseases that appear to increase in frequency as countries become more industrialized and people live longer...
, such as
obesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
,
diabetesDiabetes mellitus type 2 or type 2 diabetes is a disorder that is characterized by high blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency...
,
hypertensionHypertension is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure is elevated. It is also referred to as high blood pressure or shortened to HT, HTN or HPN. The word "hypertension", by itself, normally refers to systemic, arterial hypertension.Hypertension can be classified as either...
, and
heart diseaseHeart disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety for different diseases affecting the heart. As of 2007, it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, killing one person every 34 seconds in the United States alone.-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
, may drastically slow or reverse this trend toward increasing life expectancy in the developed world.
Since 1840, record life expectancy has risen
linearThe word linear comes from the Latin word linearis, which means created by lines.In mathematics, a linear map or function f is a function which satisfies the following two properties......
ly for men and women, albeit more slowly for men. For women the increase has been almost three months per year. In light of steady increase, without any sign of limitation, the suggestion that life expectancy will top out must be treated with caution. Scientists Oeppen and Vaupel observe that experts who assert that "life expectancy is approaching a ceiling ... have repeatedly been proven wrong." It is thought that life expectancy for women has increased more dramatically due to the considerable advances in medicine related to childbirth.
Some argue that
molecular nanotechnologyMolecular nanotechnology is the concept of engineering functional mechanical systems at the molecular scale. An equivalent definition would be "machines at the molecular scale designed and built atom-by-atom". This is distinct from nanoscale materials...
will greatly extend human lifespans. If the rate of increase of lifespan can be raised with these technologies to a level of twelve months increase per year, this is defined as effective
biological immortalityBiological immortality is the absence of a sustained increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience, or at some future point will cease, aging, is biologically immortal...
and is the goal of radical life extension.
Non-human biological longevity
Living:
- Methuselah
Methuselah is a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine in the White Mountains of California, which was 4,789 years old when sampled in 1957 by Schulman and Harlan. It is the oldest known non-clonal organism still alive, at the age of about 4,841 years old. It is the oldest known individual tree in the world...
: 4,800-year-old bristlecone pineThe bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years....
in the White Mountains of CaliforniaThe White Mountains of California are a triangular fault block mountain range facing the Sierra Nevada across the upper Owens Valley. They extend for approximately as a greatly elevated plateau about on the south, narrowing to a point at the north, with elevations generally increasing south to...
, the oldest currently living organism known.
Nonliving:
- A bristlecone pine
The bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years....
nicknamed "Prometheus"Prometheus was the nickname given to the oldest known non-clonal organism, a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree growing near tree line on Wheeler Peak in eastern Nevada, USA. The tree, which was at least 4862 years old and likely approaching or over 5000 years, was cut down in 1964 by a graduate...
, felled in the Great Basin National ParkGreat Basin National Park is a United States National Park established in 1986, located in east-central Nevada near its border with Utah. The park derives its name from the Great Basin, the dry and mountainous region between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Mountains. Topographically, this area is...
in NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
in 1964, found to be about 4,900 years old, is the longest-lived single organism known.
- A quahog clam
Arctica islandica, commonly known as the ocean quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk native to the North Atlantic ocean, which is exploited commercially...
(Arctica islandica), dredged from off the coast of IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
in 2007, was found to be from 400 to 410 years old, the oldest animal documented. Other clams of the species have been recorded as living up to 374 years.
- Lamellibrachia
Lamellibrachia is a genus of tube worms related to the giant tube worm, Riftia pachyptila. It lives at deep-sea cold seeps where hydrocarbons are leaking out of the seafloor. It is entirely reliant on internal, sulfide-oxidizing bacterial symbionts for its nutrition.L...
luymesi, a deep-sea cold-seep tubeworm, is estimated to reach ages of over 250 years based on a model of its growth rates.
- Hanako (Koi Fish) was the longest-lived vertebrate ever recorded at 215 years.
- A Bowhead Whale
The Bowhead Whale , also known as Greenland Right Whale or Arctic Whale, is a baleen whale of the right whale family Balaenidae . A stocky dark-colored whale without a dorsal fin, it can grow to 20 meters in length...
killed in a hunt was found to be approximately 211 years old (possibly up to 245 years old), the longest lived mammal known.
- Tu'i Malila
right|thumb|200px||A photo of the tortoise's preserved body, 2003.Tu'i Malila was a tortoise given to the royal family of Tonga by Captain James Cook. It was a radiated tortoise from Madagascar and is the longest-lived tortoise according to authenticated records...
, a radiated tortoiseThe radiated tortoise is a species in the genus of the Astrochelys tortoises.It is fairly large and considered to be one of the most beautiful tortoises in the world...
presented to the TongaTonga , officially the Kingdom of Tonga , an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprises 169 islands, 36 of which are inhabited, and stretches over a distance of about 800 kilometres in a north-south line...
n royal family by Captain Cook, lived for over 185 years. It is the oldest documented reptile. Adwaitya, an Aldabra Giant TortoiseThe Aldabra Giant Tortoise , from the islands of the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles, is one of the largest tortoises in the world....
, may have lived for up to 250 years.
See also
- Actuarial Science
Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries. Actuaries are professionals who are qualified in this field through education and experience...
- Alliance for Aging Research
The Alliance for Aging Research is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. that was founded to promote medical research to improve the human experience of aging. The Alliance also advocates and implements health education for consumers and health professionals.The Alliance is governed...
- Biodemography
Biodemography is the science dealing with the integration of biology and demography.Biodemography is a new branch of human demography concerned with understanding the complementary biological and demographic determinants of and interactions between the birth and death processes that shape...
- Biodemography of human longevity
Biodemography is a multidisciplinary approach, integrating biological knowledge with demographic research on human longevity and survival...
- Calorie restriction
Calorie restriction, or caloric restriction , is a dietary regimen that restricts calorie intake, where the baseline for the restriction varies, usually being the previous, unrestricted, intake of the subjects. CR when not associated with malnutrition, improves age related health and slows the...
- List of centenarians
A centenarian is a person who has attained the age of 100 years or more. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...
- DNA damage theory of aging
The DNA damage theory of aging proposes that aging is a consequence of unrepaired DNA damage accumulation. Damage in this context includes chemical reactions that mutate DNA and/or interfere with DNA replication. Although both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA damage can contribute to aging, nuclear...
- Hayflick limit
The Hayflick limit is the number of times a normal cell population will divide before it stops, presumably because the telomeres reach a critical length.-Overview:...
- How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America’s Favorite Medical Examiner (book)
- Indefinite lifespan
Indefinite lifespan is a term used in the life extension movement to refer to the longevity of humans, and other life-forms, under conditions in which aging can be effectively and completely prevented and treated. Such individuals would still be susceptible to accidental or intentional death by...
- Life extension
Life extension, also known as anti-aging medicine, experimental gerontology, and biomedical gerontology, refers to attempts to slow down or reverse the processes of aging to extend both the maximum and average lifespan...
- List of last survivors of historical events
- Lloyd Demetrius
Lloyd A. Demetrius is a mathematician and theoretical biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics at Berlin, Germany, and the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary biology, Harvard University...
- Maximum life span
Maximum life span is a measure of the maximum amount of time one or more members of a group has been observed to survive between birth and death.-Definition:...
- Methuselah Foundation
The Methuselah Foundation is a non-profit 501 volunteer organization co-founded by Aubrey de Grey and David Gobel, which is based in Springfield, Virginia, United States...
- Mitohormesis
- Oldest viable seed
-Carbon dated:*The oldest carbon-14-dated seed that has grown into a viable plant was a Judean date palm seed about 2,000 years old, recovered from excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada in Israel. It was germinated in 2005...
- Reliability theory of aging and longevity
Reliability theory of aging and longevity is a scientific approach aimed to gain theoretical insights into mechanisms of biological aging and species survival patterns by applying a general theory of systems failure, known as reliability theory.-Overview:...
- Research into centenarians
A centenarian is a person who has attained the age of 100 years or more. Research on centenarians is becoming increasingly widespread with clinical and general population studies now having been conducted in France, Hungary, Japan, Italy, Finland, Denmark, the United States, and China. Centenarians...
- Resveratrol
Resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi. Resveratrol has also been produced by chemical synthesis and is sold as a nutritional supplement derived primarily from Japanese knotweed...
- Senescence
Senescence refers to the biological changes which take place in organisms as they age. It encompasses all of the biological processes of a living organism's approaching an advanced age...
- Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence
External links