Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T12:05:47.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Increase in the Usual Life Span in North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Arthur S. Kraus
Arthur S. Kraus
Affiliation:
Queen's University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An assumed fixed maximum life span was involved in a much publicized prediction of a compression of morbidity in late life. The maximum life span has major weaknesses as a measure. The “usual life span“, or age to which 1.0% of a birth cohort survives, is suggested as a more useful measure.

Statistics were derived from recent United States and Canadian censuses on the age above which 1.0% of the population is contained, from recent United States and Canadian mortality data on the age above which 1.0% of the deaths were reported, and from recent Canadian life tables on the age to which 1.0% of a cohort would survive. These statistics suggest that the usual life span increased at least 2 years in the 1960–1980 period in North America.

Résumé

Une hypothèse sur la durée maximale fixée de la vie a fait éclat en prédisant la compression de l'abattement maladif durant le déclin de la vie. Cette supposition semble plutôt mal appropriée en tant que mesure. La “durée habituelle de la vie”, soit l'âge auquel 1.0% de la cohorte subsiste, semble se conformer plus aisément aux besoins de la cause.

Les statistiques ont été puisées de recensements récemment effectués aux États-Unis et au Canada sur l'âge au-dessus duquel 1.0% de la population est contenue. D'autres données numériques sont provenues de tables de mortalité publiées aux États-Unis et au Canada sur l'âge au-dessus duquel 1.0% des mortalités sont enrégistrées. Finalement, des chiffres ont été extraits des tables de durée moyenne de vie au Canada sur l'âge auquel 1.0% de la cohorte pourrait survivre.

Ces statistiques suggèrent que la durée habituelle de la vie a augmenté d'au moins deux ans durant la période 1960–1980 en Amérique du Nord.

Keywords

life spanlife table
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , Spring/printemps 1987 , pp. 19 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Webster's third new international dictionary of the English language unabridged, 1981. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster.Google Scholar
2Fries, JF, 1980. Aging, natural death and the compression of morbidity. N EngJ Med 303:130–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3Schneider, EL and Brody, JA, 1983. Aging, natural death, and the compression of morbidity: another view. N EngJ Med 309:854–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4Mantoṁ, KG, 1982. Changing concepts of morbidity and mortality in the elderly population. Milbank Mem Fund Quarterly, 60:183–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5News story reported by Harry Kilfoyle on page 1 of the Kingston Whig-Standard, Kingston, Ontario, April 9, 1986.Google Scholar
6Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1963. Vital statistics of the United States, 1960, volume II—Mortality, Part A, Washington, D.C., Government of the United States, Tables 1-C, 1-E, and 1-G.Google Scholar
7Dominion Bureau of Statistics, 1962. 1961 census of Canada, population, age groups, bulletin 1.2–2. Ottawa, Government of Canada, Table 22.Google Scholar
8Bureau of the Census, 1961. Census of population; 1960, Vol. 1, characteristics of the population, part 1, United States summary, Washington D.C., Government of the United States, Tables 155, 156, and 159.Google Scholar
9Bureau of the Census, 1973. 1970 census of population, vol. 1, characteristics of the population, part 1, United States, summary, section 1. Washington D.C., Government of the United States, Tables 50 and 52.Google Scholar
10Bureau of the Census, 1983. 1980 census of population, chapter B, general population characteristics, part 1, United States summary. Washington, D.C., Government of the United States, Tables 41 and 43.Google Scholar
11Statistics Canada, 1973. 1971 Census of Canada, vol. 1, part 2, bulletin 1.2–3, population, age groups. Ottawa, Government of Canada, Table 9.Google Scholar
12Statistics Canada, 1982. 1981 Census of Canada, vol. 1—national series, population, age, sex, and marital status. Ottawa, Government of Canada, Tables 1 and 2.Google Scholar
13Department of Health and Human Services, 1985. Vital statistics of the United States, 1980, vol. II—Mortality, part A. Hyattsville, Md., Government of the United States, Table 1–3.Google Scholar
14Statistics Canada, 1983. Vital statistics, vol. 1, births and deaths. Ottawa, Government of Canada, Table 19.Google Scholar
15Vaupel, JW and Gowan, AE, 1986. Passage to Methuselah: some demographic consequences of continued progress against mortality. Amer J Pub Health, 76:430–433.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16Department of Health and Human Services, 1984. vital statistics of the United States, 1980, vol. I, Natality. Hyattsville, Md., Government of the United States, Publication #PHS 85–1100, Table 1–1.Google Scholar
17Statistics Canada, 1974. Vital statistics, vol. III, Deaths. Ottawa, Government of Canada, Table 7.Google Scholar
18Statistics Canada, 1982. Vital statistics, vol. 1, births and deaths, 1981. Ottawa, Government of Canada, Table 1.Google Scholar
19Dominion Bureau of Statistics, 1964. 1961 census of Canada, Series 1, 3, characteristics of immigrants. Ottawa, Government of Canada, Table 125.Google Scholar
20Statistics Canada, 1984. 1981 census of Canada, population, place of birth, citizenship, period of immigration. Ottawa, Government of Canada, Tables 3 and 7B.Google Scholar
21Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1974. Vital statistics of the United States, 1970, vol. II—mortality, part A. Rockville, Md., Government of the United States, Tables 1–4 and 1–21, and Section 5.Google Scholar
22Department of Health and Human Services, 1985. Vital statistics of the United States, 1980, vol. I—mortality, part A. Hyattsville, Md., Government of the United States, Tables 1–4 and 1–20, and Section 6.Google Scholar
23Office of the Registrar-General, 1965. Vital statistics for 1963. Toronto, Government of Ontario, Table 40.Google Scholar
24Office of the Registrar-General, 1974. Vital statistics for 1972. Toronto, Government of Ontario, Table 23.Google Scholar
25Office of the Registrar-General, 1985. Vital statistics for 1983. Toronto, Government of Ontario, Table 20.Google Scholar
26Statistics Canada, 1982. 1981 census of Canada, population, occupied private dwellings, private households, families in private households, selected characteristics, vol. 2—Provincial series. Ottawa, Government of Canada.Google Scholar
27Dominion Bureau of Statistics, 1963. Canadian life tables, 1960–62. Ottawa, Government of Canada.Google Scholar
28Statistics Canada, 1974. Life tables, Canada and Provinces, 1970–72. Ottawa, Government of Canada.Google Scholar
29Statistics Canada, 1984. Life tables, Canada and Provinces, 1980–82. Ottawa, Government of Canada.Google Scholar
30Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1984. United States life tables: 1959–61. Washington, D.C., Government of the United States.Google Scholar
31Stamoler, J, 1985. Coronary heart disease: doing the “right things”, (Editorial). New EngJ Med 312:1053–1055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32Colvez, A and Blanchet, M, 1981. Disability trends in the United States population, 1966–1976: analysis of reported causes. AmerJ Pub Health 71:464–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33Kraus, A and McGeer, CP, 1982. The effect of dementia on mortality in the elderly institutionalized population. Can J Aging 1:40–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar