by Jim Rose in applied welfare economics, economic history, health economics, politics - USA Tags: life expectancies, The Great Escape

There was quite a jump in life expectancy in the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, followed by slow progress for white females and black females. In the case of men of both races, the situation appears to be steady progress in post retirement life expectancy since 1950. Black male life expectancy actually fell in the 1960s for those aged 65.

Figure 1: life expectancies at age 65 by sex and race, USA, 1950 – 2010

Source: Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.