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The Effects of the Increase in Longevity on Our Society

Thanks to a growing body of medical knowledge and steadily advancing technology, people today are living much longer lives than they did as little as a century ago. Overall, they're also enjoying a higher standard of living and a better quality of life. However, although longer lifespans are appealing, in many ways living longer will significantly affect our society.

  1. Rising Health-Care Costs

    • Older people--even if they maintain a fairly good bill of health--still need more health care than their younger counterparts, especially once the effects of chronic conditions (heart disease, high cholesterol, respiratory diseases) begin to manifest more frequently. The longer people live, the longer they will need health care, and the longer the health-care system will have to provide assistance. If the trend of longer lifespans continues, the possibility of public health budgets becoming overwhelmed by the demand for care will increase significantly. Health-care costs for younger, healthier people will subsequently also increase exponentially.

    Shifting Values

    • The benefits of an additional 10, 20 or 30 years on Earth are obvious. People could spend more time with younger generations, develop new skills or start an entirely new career. But some worry that living so much longer could dramatically affect certain deeply-entrenched societal institutions; namely, marriage, work and family. With the pressure of time somewhat relieved, it might no longer make sense to say "Til death do us part," to work nearly as hard or to rush to have children by age 30 to have the best chance of being healthy and active while they grow up. With more time to live, things that are crucially important now would cease to be as much so. People would likely work less and wait longer to have children--two things that could potentially cripple the workforce and overall productivity.

    Draining Government Benefits

    • The longer people live, the longer they continue to draw Social Security and other government-funded retirement benefits, placing a burden on the already-stretched budget. With a growing population of retired people and a workforce that remains the same size, money to continue funding these benefits would be more difficult to obtain. Although it is possible that retirement age would be raised or that people would voluntarily continue working to a later age, a burgeoning elderly population would inevitably place an enormous strain on government programs---not only for the elderly, but also for other parts of the population (such as single parents) that rely on government assistance.

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