Centenarians in France: more French living past 100
April 2, 2008
French people are getting older, and more of them are living past 100 in better health, says a new study on life expectancy in France.
France now counts 20,000 citizen over the age of 100. And life expectancy in France overall has accelerated in the past 5 years, raising the population in France as well, especially as the birth rate in France also remains robust.
Studies show that average age expectancy in France has risen even more markedly since the infamous heat wave of 2003 that killed 15,000 in France alone, mostly older people. Women in France can now expect to live to 84.5 years, 7 months longer than the pattern before 2003 would have indicated. French men have a life expectancy of 77.6 years. For the first time, men and women in France can expect to live an average of 81 years.
Until 2003, life expectancy in France rose an average of four months every year. But every since 2003, average life expectancy in France has risen beyond those expectations.
Why are the French living longer, and why since 2003 has life expectancy in France shot up? According to Giles Pison, author of the French study, it may be due to lifestyle changes brought home by the heat wave in France, with families taking better care of their aged relatives, especially women, and making sure they are safe, monitored, hydrated and not isolated. This was an important factor in the number of deaths in France during the 2003 summer heat wave, when many families in France left on vacation, leaving aging relatives alone in sweltering Paris apartments.
Also recent years in France have seen a drop in alcohol consumption, smoking and other behaviors known to cause cancer and heart disease, the main killers of people over 60 in France, as more people in France take more responsibility for their own heath. The government in France has lent a hand here by banning smoking in restaurants and cafes in France beginning January 1 of this year.
Then there is the so-called French paradox, the relative rarity of heart disease among the French who nonetheless consume foods high in fat. Many studies attribute this to the frequent consumption of red wine, high in antioxidants and flavanoids.
Living longer in a place like France, eating good food and drinking lots of good red wine? It’s enough to make some people in other countries buy plane tickets.
And they’d have plenty of company. At the current rate of life expectancy in France, there will be over 80,000 people in France over the age of 100 by 2050. There were only 8,000 in the year 2000.
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