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13 November 2025
Longevity: The Age of Unstoppable Records is Over
At the beginning of November, the world saw 80-year-old Natalie Grabow complete the Ironman triathlon—one of the most grueling tests of human endurance—as the oldest woman in history to do so. In Poland, too, there are many people enjoying a ripe old age, such as Captain Tadeusz Lutak, a 108-year-old who remains in great shape despite experiencing the cruelty of war.
However, the hard data on the average life expectancy for upcoming generations reveals the exact opposite of these beautiful, record-setting stories.
Projections Show the Hard limit of human life
The new projections are brutally sobering: the upper boundary of our age is barely increasing despite major medical advances. This conclusion comes from analyses conducted by scientists from Germany, France, and the US, and published in the prestigious journal PNAS. For the first time in a century, models show a reversal of the trend: cases of people living to 100 years and beyond will be extremely rare in future decades, not “increasingly common,” as we have been telling ourselves for years.
A Troubling Decline
For many decades, people lived increasingly longer. Now, a slump has occurred. The consequence? None of the generations born after 1939 will achieve an average life expectancy of 100 years. Where does this conclusion come from?
Scientists analyzed data from 23 high-income, low-mortality countries—the nations where, theoretically, people should live the longest. Instead of relying on historical averages, they plugged this data into the latest mortality forecasting models. The result is consistent: the life expectancy curve is flattening.
How Long Will We Live?
The huge increase in life expectancy seen in the first half of the 20th century will not be repeated. The data is unforgiving:
- Between 1900 and 1938, the average life expectancy grew by 5.5 months for each subsequent generation. This resulted in a person born in 1900 living to an average of 62, while a person born in 1938 lived to an average of 80.
- Yet, for those born after 1939, this growth has virtually stalled. Subsequent generations are adding not half a year of life, but only about 2.5 to 3.5 months. This is barely above the margin of error, not a leap forward.
“In the absence of any major, life-extending breakthroughs, expected life span would still not catch up with the rapid increases observed in the early twentieth century, even if adult survivorship improved twice as fast as we predict,” said Héctor Pifarré i Arolas, one of the scientists involved in the study, in an article published on the La Follette School of Public Affairs website.
The Final Nail in the Coffin: Our Sedentary Lifestyle
The truth hurts: we are shortening our own lives. We have medical care that our great-grandparents could only dream of. But what are we doing with this gift? We eat as if time is more important than the meal’s content, we choose the car over exercise, and convenience over health. We are not living longer, even though we could be.
We are not as hardened as the war generation—and that is not entirely our fault, but a consequence of prosperity. We do not have to struggle, fight for food, or endure the trauma of the front lines. However, there is a downside to this luxury: a lack of resilience is costing us years of life. Financial analysts are already calculating how much states will save on pensions if the average life expectancy does not extend as it once did.
How to Enjoy Better Health and a Longer Life
Since the limit of human life is being confirmed by science, what is left are the things we can truly control: our daily decisions. Therefore, these few principles are worth taking seriously—because they can genuinely add years to your life:
- Avoid Addictions: Stay away from cigarettes, harmful substances, and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages.
- Exercise Regularly: This can be a short walk, a bike ride, or dancing.
- Maintain a Balanced Diet: Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits; limit processed foods and sugary drinks.
- Prioritize Sleep: Aim for about eight hours of sleep per night.
- Manage Stress Healthily: Talking to loved ones, relaxation, or doing what you enjoy is simple and effective.
- Keep Up Positive Social Relations: Maintain regular contact with family and friends.
The Biological Limits of Human Lifespan
Research into human aging shows that our regenerative capacities and lifespan have biological boundaries. Scientists are trying to understand how to slow these processes and improve the quality of life within its natural limits.
How does the body’s ability to regenerate change with age? The ability to regenerate decreases with age and begins to drop sharply between 35 and 45 years. Ultimately, it disappears completely between 120 and 150 years.
Why are we not extending the maximum lifespan despite medical progress? Scientists explain that even the best therapies can extend average life expectancy, but not the maximum. Only the discovery of a true anti-aging cure could change this.
Is there a biological limit to human life? Yes, genetic research from Harvard indicates that humans cannot live longer than about 138 years. This confirms that our bodies have natural regenerative constraints, solidifying the data on the limit of human life.
Read this article in Polish: Nie będziemy żyć 100 lat. Nowe dane są jednoznaczne
