You're Likely to Live!

You’re older than you’ve ever been, as the song goes, and now you’re even older. And for each eight years you age, you double your chances of dying. That’s the Gompertz Law of human mortality, which is actually sunnier than you think. If you’re 24 today, you stand a 0.3 percent chance of dying in the next year. That chance doubles, to just 0.6 percent, by the time you’re 32. But the compound interest of your corporeal decay mounts quickly. By the time you’re 89, your chances of expiring before the end of the year rise to 86.4 percent. The Gravity and Levity blog offers a wonderfully clear explanation of the Gompertz curve, with a handy visual calculator of your chances of living out the day. And now you’re older still. [%comments]