If one’s thirties were a decrepit old age, ancient writers and politicians don’t seem to have got the message. This belief that our species may have reached the peak of longevity is also reinforced by some myths about our ancestors: it’s common belief that ancient Greeks or Romans would have been flabbergasted to see anyone above the age of 50 or 60, for example. Beyond the UK, these gains are slowing worldwide. In September 2018, the Office for National Statistics confirmed that, in the UK at least, life expectancy has stopped increasing. The natural conclusion is that both the miracles of modern medicine and public health initiatives have helped us live longer than ever before – so much so that we may, in fact, be running out of innovations to extend life further. In 2016, a baby girl could expect to reach 83 a boy, 79. In 1841, a baby girl was expected to live to just 42 years of age, a boy to 40.

In the UK, where records have been kept longer, this trend is even greater. The average person born in 1960, the earliest year the United Nations began keeping global data, could expect to live to 52.5 years of age. Over the last few decades, life expectancy has increased dramatically around the globe.

Avg life expectancy in us