Monday, February 20, 2006

Retirement age 'should reach 85'

By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter, St Louis

A longer life could mean a longer working life

The age of retirement should be raised to 85 by 2050 because of trends in life expectancy, a US biologist has said.
Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University says anti-ageing advances could raise life expectancy by a year each year over the next two decades.

That will put a strain on economies around the world if current retirement ages are maintained, he warned.
He also told a science meeting in St Louis that 50-year or 75-year mortgages may not be unusual in the future.
Dr Tuljapurkar was speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in the Missouri city.

"People are going to do things they didn't get round to in their working lives. Current institutions are really not equipped at the moment to deal with such long lives," Dr Tuljapurkar said.
"We are going to have to plan a lot more carefully, which people are not very good at."

Lifestyle trends

The Stanford researcher has been looking at relationships between historical trends in ageing, population growth and economic activity.
Based on this, he came up with a scenario in which anti-ageing technologies will increase the most common age of death by one year per year between 2010 and 2030.
Dr Tuljapurkar then applied this scenario to four countries: the US, China, Sweden and India.
In the US the cost of social security and medical care would almost double if people retired at 65 He found that his projected trends in life expectancy would have profound effects on the economy, lifestyle and population demographics.

"It might be possible to go through two mortgages, for example, or even have 50-year or 75-year mortgages," Dr Tuljapurkar explained.
In the US, the cost of social security and medical care would almost double if people retired at 65 under Tuljapurkar's scenario.

But an increase in the retirement age to 85 would bring costs down to today's levels.
However these trends would also create a "permanent underclass" of countries where opportunities for increased life expectancy were not the same as in the industrialised world.
"We can't even get retrovirals to some countries now," he told journalists.

Published on BBC News, Science-Nature section, Friday February 17, 2006

σ.σ. Ε, μην μου πείτε ότι αυτό το δημοσίευμα δεν σας έκανε να δείτε τη ζωή σας με άλλο μάτι? Μ.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

με άλλο μάτι;;; ναι με βουρκωμένο μάτι!!! διότι μαζι με την σύνταξη θα σου κάνουν δώρο και δύο χερούλια ή ένα φέρετρο (εξαρτάται από το πόσο παραγωγικός υπήρξες) και κατευθείαν στο λάκκο!

Marialena said...

Μπαααά, ούτε καν βουρκωμένο δεν θα προλάβει να ναι το μάτι, κλειστό, θεόκλειστο θα ναι, καθότι αν είναι ανοιχτό μες στο φέρετρο κάτι πάει στραβά! Κατευθείαν λέω και γω, γιατί ξέρεις τι όφελος θα χει το κράτος απ' τις συντάξεις? Μια χαρά σχέδιο είναι... Μ. ;-}

Anonymous said...

On Altrusia, the Sleestak live for over 1000 years, so at 85 years we would barely be out of diapers.

Please will you let me quote your world's plan for retirement at our next Centennial Planning Meeting on Altrusia.

I'm the lead speaker at the next pint millennia and I'm really looking forward to passing this idea on as my own.

Marialena said...

If this article will be of assistance to your speech at the Board of Elderly, then it will be a good idea to refer to it but NOT as an idea of your own! You'll have to do better than that I'm afraid Enik. M.

Anonymous said...

Enik,

Come back at once. The council of Elders needs you immediately. Apparently, there has been a Junta at the Lost City, and the Altrusian race is at stake.

The Praetorian Sleestaks have taken control and are threatening extinction of the whole Pacuni tribe.

I have escaped to find you on this blog and request you return at once to Altrusia.

Marialena said...

@ chaka: ET call home!!! Τι στο καλό γίνεται εδώ βρε παιδιά και δεν έχω πάρει πρέφα? Mars Attack ή κάτι άλλο? χα,χα,χα Μ.

Anonymous said...

Marialena,

I must go now as my home planet needs me. I will return as soon as I can, but will leave my faithful assistant Chaka (not Chaca-Khan) to remain here and keep your blog under watch to ensure that no Praetorians from the Sleestak continuum try to take over your blog.

The only hope is that these Praetorians do not speeky Greeky and maybe we can confuse them with all your "True Class" Greekness.

It has been my pleasure infesting your blog with my presence and I hope to return one day. You are truly a kind person to put up with all my foolishness these last few days.

Signed....

The Honorable Enik of the Altrusian Race

NOTE: If you wish to find more about us and our race, search under I believe what you humans call "Wikipedia" on the Internet and type in Altrusian. You shall find out about our Lost Land of Altrusia and then you will understand what we are going through.

Marialena said...

Enik: Bon voyage and remember that "foolishness killed the extraterestrials"...M. Peace!