Overview
- Living longer and healthier has been a goal of human beings for thousands of years, but we know little about it
- Distinguished experts in the field of healthy aging/ longevity address strategically important issues of “living longer and healthier”
- Presents county-specific studies and cross-national comparisons with easy-to-read texts, based on longitudinal and cross-sectional data from North America, Europe, and Asia
- Interdisciplinary approach to human longevity
- Focus on the oldest-old population
Part of the book series: International Studies in Population (ISIP, volume 4)
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Table of contents (19 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Theoretical and Comparative Biological Concepts
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Front Matter
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Empirical and Analytical Studies of Ageing and Oldest-Old Populations
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Front Matter
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Causes of Death and Biological Frailty
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Front Matter
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Sex, Gender, and Social Determinants and Consequences of Mortality
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Front Matter
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Keywords
About this book
Old-age survival has considerably improved in the second half of the twentieth century. Life expectancy in wealthy countries has increased, on average, from 65 years in 1950 to 76 years in 2005. The rise was more spectacular in some countries: the life expectancy for Japanese women rose from 62 years to 86 years during the same period. Driven by this longevity extension, the population aged 80 and over in those countries has grown fivefold from 8.5 million in 1950 to 44.5 million in 2005. Why has such a substantial extension of human lifespan occurred? How long can we live? In this book, these fundamental questions are explored by experts from such diverse fields as biology, medicine, epidemiology, demography, sociology, and mathematics: they report on recent cutting-edge studies about essential issues of human longevity such as evolution of lifespan of species, genetics of human longevity, reasons for the recent improvement in survival of the elderly, medical and behavioral causes of deaths among very old people, and social factors of long survival in old age.
Reviews
From the reviews:
"This book is divided into five sections in an attempt to find common ground among the broad selection of topics. ... I read this book with great interest and enthusiasm and believe it should be on the shelf of anyone now doing research in this field. ... My recommendation is to add this volume to your library and enjoy, as I have ... ." (S. Jay Olshansky, Population Studies, Vol. 62 (2), 2008)
Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Human Longevity, Individual Life Duration, and the Growth of the Oldest-Old Population
Editors: Jean-Marie Robine, Eileen M. Crimmins, Shiro Horiuchi, Zeng Yi
Series Title: International Studies in Population
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4848-7
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-4846-3Published: 23 November 2006
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-4847-0Published: 28 September 2007
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4020-4848-7Published: 21 March 2007
Series ISSN: 1871-0395
Series E-ISSN: 2543-0459
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 442
Topics: Demography, Aging, Geriatrics/Gerontology, Social Sciences, general