section_path: Life expectancy
section_name: Life expectancy
paragraph_text: Life expectancy
  
  Life expectancy by nation at birth in the year 2011 ranged from 48 years to 82 years. Low values generally indicate high death rates for infants and children.
  
  In most parts of the world, women, on average, live longer than men; even so, the disparities vary between 12 years in Russia to no difference or higher life expectancy for men in countries such as Zimbabwe and Uganda.
  
  The number of elderly people worldwide began to surge in the second half of the 20th century. In developed countries before then, five or less percent of the population was over 65. Few lived longer than their 70s and people who attained advanced age (i.e. their 80s) were rare enough to be a novelty and were revered as wise sages. The worldwide over-65 population in 1960 was one-third of the under-5 population. By 2013, the over-65 population had grown to equal the under-5 population and is projected to double the under-5 population by 2050.
  
  Before the surge in the over-65 population, accidents and disease claimed many people before they could attain old age, and health problems in those over 65 meant a quick death in most cases. If a person lived to an advanced age, it was generally due to genetic factors and/or a relatively easy lifestyle, since diseases of old age could not be treated before the 20th century.
  
  In October 2016, a group of scientists identified the maximum human lifespan at an average age of 115, with an absolute upper limit of 125 years. However, the concept of a maximum lifespan of humans is still widely debated among the scientific community.