16 June 2008

Improvements in life expectancy have amounted to five hours per day, according to Professor Tom Kirkwood, professor of Medicine and director of the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle University.

Kirkwood revealed the improvements in life expectancy at a conference held by Punter Southall, which was attended by over 100 pension scheme trustees and finance directors.

“Current improvements in life expectancy are the equivalent of an extra five hours for every 24 hours that we live.

“It is a great challenge for pension schemes and governments to tackle the issue of longevity. As it stands, we are stuck with inflexible systems that are unable to adapt to the challenges that changing mortality rates pose,” said Kirkwood, in his presentation to the conference.

- Pensions Age June 2008