People are living longer but are plagued by poor health – we’re calling for 5m volunteers to revolutionise this chronic disease epidemic
Would you choose to live for longer, if it meant living your extra years in poor health?
It’s a difficult question to consider – although your answer doesn’t really matter. Like it or not, most of us will live our later years under the burden of multiple illnesses. Healthcare systems around the world are engaged in a global battle against chronic disease – and current trends suggest there is only one winner.
The UK is as good an example as any in the Western world. Average life expectancy in this country has increased vastly over the past 60 years, from 68 years for a boy and 74 years for a girl born in 1960-1962, to 87 years for a boy and 90 years for a girl born in 2020-2022. Much of that improvement can be attributed to impressive advances in healthcare. However, the average healthy life expectancy of someone living in the UK today is much lower, at just 63 years. Retirement doesn’t always look quite as good as it sounds.
The evidence shows that we’re plagued in later life by common diseases like cancer, stroke, diabetes and dementia. Research suggests that 54 percent of people aged 65 or older in the UK live with two or more serious health conditions – or comorbidities, in healthcare speak. By 2035, that figure is expected to rise to 68 percent.