Life expectancy as usually reported is a mean, and is typically affected more by... | Hacker News

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ska on Sept 22, 2020 | parent | context | favorite | on: Older people have become younger

Life expectancy as usually reported is a mean, and is typically affected more by reduction in things like childhood and childbirth mortality than a meaningful shift in longevity.

david-gpu on Sept 23, 2020 [–]

I believe life expectancy is a median. I.e. a life expectancy of 80 at birth means that half of them will die before that age.

Also keep in mind that mortality increases exponentially with age.

ska on Sept 23, 2020 | [–]

It is more often reported as a mean.

Either way, it is important to know what is reported when doing comparisons.

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