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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

As lifespans grow, work time while healthy lags

The gap between average life expectancy and the number of years people are healthy and on the job is widening, with potentially grave consequences for pensioners.
An elderly gentleman carrying an umbrella walks past the doorway of a restaurant in London, England.

A man walks through London’s financial district. Between 2015 and 2035, men in England will gain more than 3 years of life expectancy but less than half a year of healthy working life. Credit: Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty

Several European countries plan to raise the pension age as a result of anticipated increases in life expectancy. But research in England predicts that in coming decades, people will gain years of life much faster than they will gain years of life when they’re healthy and in work1.

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Nature 602, 11 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00136-0

References

  1. Lynch, M., Bucknall, M., Jagger, C. & Wilkie, R. Nature Aging 2, 13–18 (2022).

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