Life expectancy : experts have evaluated the limits

Jeanne, Calm down, at the age of 120 years (TSCHAEN/SIPA)

Published the 02.09.2017 to 08h26

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longévitéespérance of vieâge

Jeanne, Calm down, would it be a fault ? The French died in 1997 at 122 years of age. But she would never have had to live up to their advanced age, according to a study by the Dutch universities of Tilburg and Rotterdam (the netherlands). The researchers say that a glass ceiling has been reached, and that the dean of humanity is a special case.

The end of the service life is estimated to be 115.7 years for women, and 114.1 years for men, according to their estimates. For the studied period, between 1986 and 2015, the maximum age hasn’t budged.

These estimates are derived from the study of a cohort of more than 75 000 Dutch died at a higher age to 94 years of age, and this, for the past 30 years. The researchers applied a statistical algorithm designed for the analysis of the fringe extreme of the statistical series. Cases, by definition, rare. The same tools are, for example, used to estimate the losses during a natural disaster.

120 years to the limit, but not more

These analyses are therefore estimates, and leave room for a margin of error. “The actual values may deviate to the upside, up to a little over 120 years “, stated in a press release, the statisticians responsible for this study.

This margin explains the some 18 women and 4 men, whose age has exceeded the glass ceiling. But Jane Calmed, the dean of humanity, is still out of statistics !