Quote:
Originally posted by Naughty@Jan 29 2004, 10:26 AM
Yeah, I know that is what is expected. However, that would be mainly due to the increased medical gadgets and know-how.
From what I am SEEING with my own eyes around me, people get sick young. Maybe I just know a lot of people who don't live healthy, but I ain't getting any happier seeing them all die before they hit 40 
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Yes, but life expectancy ages are not just guesses based on what new medical techniques there are. The data is extrapolated and one of the most important pieces of data that goes in is what percentage of people born in certain years are alive today. Maybe you could throw out the infant mortality data if you want geta particular picture but hell, it wasn't long ago when any number of diseases were wiping out 2/5 of the population before the age of 40.
If the average life expectancy is rising it is because a higher and higher percentage of people who were born x years ago are alive today. Sure, there is error and things can change but the reason the rates rise is because of the above.
I don't know what your sample size is but the population statistics of a country have less error for sure. ;-)