What can the Life Expectancy Calculator not know?

It does not ask about your health, habits or family history, and it does not adjust for them. It does not predict when one person will die. It does not count years in good health, only years of life. It does not tell you when to start a pension or how much you can spend. It does not give medical or financial advice. The age and sex you type are used in your browser to calculate the answer. They are not sent to us or stored.

Life Expectancy Calculator: How Long Will You Live?

See how long people your age live on average, and your chances of reaching 90, 95 or 100. Based on official life tables, with nothing stored.

How long are people your age likely to live?

What do you want to find out?

How long am I likely to live?

We're a couple: how long will our money need to last?

You know your age. We find how long people like you live, and the chance of reaching 90 or 100.Couples often share savings. The money may need to last while at least one of you is alive. We find the chance of that at 90, 95 and 100.

You

Your age

Ages 18 to 100.

Your sex

Male Female

Official tables are split this way.

Your estimate

Help

What this calculator is for

Most people have heard a number like "life expectancy is 79". Few know what it means for them.

This calculator answers a plainer question: how long do people of your age and sex in your country usually live, and how many of them live much longer?

It uses official life tables. A life table is a statistical estimate: out of a model group of people, how many survive to each age.

The calculator starts from people who have already reached the age you enter. It reads the table for you and shows the average, the halfway point and the chances.

It can help with planning, as one input among many. How long your savings may need to last. When a pension might start. What a couple should prepare for.

It does not calculate pension timing or how much you can spend. For savings, the Savings Withdrawal Calculator does that part.

It shows estimates for a group of people. It does not predict your own life, and it asks nothing about your health.

Two ways to ask

At the top of the calculator, under What do you want to find out?, there are two cards. Choose by your situation:

How long am I likely to live? You enter your age and sex. You get the average age people of your age and sex reach, and the estimated chance of reaching 90 or 100.
We're a couple: how long will our money need to last? You enter both ages and sexes. You get the estimated chance that at least one of you is still alive when you (the person under You) reach 90, 95 or 100. Your partner's age moves forward by the same number of years.

The second question exists because couples often share savings. The money may need to last while at least one of you is alive.

At any future date, the chance that at least one of you is alive is at least as high as the chance for either of you alone.

Two kinds of answer

Your estimate is the quick answer. It appears as soon as you have typed enough, and it changes as you type.

Before that, the card shows a ring (for example "0 of 2") and a short list of what is still needed.

The ring fills and the list gets shorter as you type.

Under the card there is a one-line preview of what the insights reveal. It changes with the question you chose. For How long am I likely to live? it names the group and a chance, for example "1 in 4 women aged 67 in the United States reach 94; the average is 87." For We're a couple, it names the chance for two, for example "For two people your ages, the chance that at least one of you reaches 97 is about 1 in 4."

Under that line is the button: 3 things worth knowing about your planning age. The button always names how many things it opens; for this calculator that is always three, whichever question you chose.

The button opens Interesting insights for your numbers, in those three parts:

A closer look at your numbers: the chance of reaching each age, a chart, and other countries.
Why your own life may differ: what the table cannot know about you.
Your next question: the Savings Withdrawal Calculator and the FIRE Calculator, for what the planning age means next.

Under the parts, Where these numbers come from shows the source, the edition and how we checked it. It is closed until you open it.

It takes two or three minutes to read. For planning, it is the most useful part of the page.

Start over, under the last box of fields, clears everything.

If you click it by mistake, Undo brings your numbers back.

Your country and its table

The calculator suggests a country from your browser's time zone, not from your IP address.

The country decides which table is used. Choose the country where you live now.

You will see it in a line above the fields:

United States: the official table of the Social Security Administration.
United Kingdom: the official table of the Office for National Statistics.
Every other country: United Nations estimates (World Population Prospects 2024).

If the guess is wrong, click Not your country? Change it, type a few letters of your country, and pick it from the list.

All three sources are projections. They use assumptions about how death rates may change in the years ahead.

Real outcomes may differ from those assumptions.

A national table describes people who live in that country. It cannot reflect a life spent partly in other countries.

Two scenarios, three people

This part shows the calculator through two made-up examples. The people are fictional; the numbers are the calculator's real results for their inputs.

Scenario 1: How long am I likely to live? Maya, 67, wants to know how long women her age live, and whether 90 is realistic.
Scenario 2: We're a couple. David, 61, retires next year. He and his wife, 59, want to know how long their savings may need to last.

Both live in the United States, and both use the United States table.

Open the scenario that sounds most like your own question. You do not need to read both.

Start here when you are asking for yourself.

Maya's question

Maya is 67, a retired nurse and a grandmother. She lives in the United States. Her mother lived to 92.

Maya wonders how long women her age live, and whether she should think about 90 when she plans her money.

What Maya enters

She leaves the first card, How long am I likely to live?, selected.

The country line already shows the United States.

In Your age she types 67.

In Your sex she clicks Female.

Maya's estimate

Women aged 67 in the United States live, on average, to about 87.

That is about 20 more years.

Half of them are estimated to reach 88.

For this group, the table estimates a 41% chance of reaching 90.

Why is the average (87) lower than the halfway age (88)? They are different measures. The average includes the shorter lives as well as the longer ones, and the shorter ones pull it down a little.

What the insights show Maya

She clicks 3 things worth knowing about her planning age.

First, a line she did not ask for: about 53% of women her age in the United States live past the average age of 87. This is a group's chance, not a forecast for Maya.

Next, Your chance of reaching 85, 90, 95 or 100. Each pair is an age, then the estimated chance of reaching it:

85: 62% · 90: 41% · 95: 19% · 100: 5.7%

If 100 women of Maya's age were followed for life, about 41 would be expected to reach 90, and about 6 to reach 100.

Under it, three cards: Half reach age 88, 1 in 4 reach age 94, 1 in 10 reach age 98.

Then a chart.

The line starts at 100% at her age and falls with each year.

The dashed line marks the average age. Many people live well past it.

Last in this part, Compare with other countries. Maya types "United Kingdom" in the first box and "Japan" in the second.

Women aged 67 reach, on average: United States 87, United Kingdom 88, Japan 92.

The United States and the United Kingdom use their national tables; Japan uses United Nations estimates. The sources and their assumptions differ.

These are differences between whole populations. They do not say what moving to another country would do for one person.

In Why your own life may differ, Maya reads what the table cannot know: health, habits and family history.

Her mother's long life may be relevant to her own circumstances. This calculator does not use family history or adjust its estimate for it.

She also sees that men aged 67 live, on average, to about 85, two years less than women.

Last, Your next question links to two related calculators: the Savings Withdrawal Calculator, for how long her savings might last, and the FIRE Calculator, for what the planning age changes about how much she would need to stop working.

Maya's doubt

"The news says life expectancy is 79. Why does this say 87?"

Many headline figures describe life expectancy at birth, for men and women together, from recent death rates.

Maya's number is for women who have already reached 67, from a projected table.

Before comparing two numbers, check that they describe the same age, the same sex, the same period and the same method.

Start here when you plan for two.

David's question

David is 61, an operations manager, married, with two grown children. They live in the United States.

He retires next year with $900,000 in savings. His wife is 59.

He knows roughly what they spend each month. What he does not know is how many years their income and savings may need to cover.

What David enters

He clicks the second card, We're a couple: how long will our money need to last?.

A second box, Your partner, appears.

In You he types 61 and clicks Male.

In Your partner he types 59 and clicks Female.

David's estimate

The estimated chance that at least one of them is still alive when David turns 90 is 63%.

That is 29 years from today, about 28 years after he retires.

David alone: 29%.

His wife, aged 88 by then: 48%.

Each of them alone is estimated to be less likely than not to reach that point. Together, it is more likely than not that one of them does.

What the insights show David

He clicks 3 things worth knowing about his planning age.

First, a line he did not ask for: a plan for two has to last until the second of them dies. For two people their ages, the chance that at least one of them reaches 97 is about 1 in 4.

Planning for two shows the same three numbers as cards: You are alive, Your partner is alive, and At least one of you.

Then the row for two. Each pair is David's age, then the estimated chance that at least one of them is alive at that time:

85: 82% · 90: 63% · 95: 36% · 100: 13%

If 100 couples of their ages were followed for life, in about 63 of them at least one partner would be expected to be alive when the husband turns 90, and in about 13 when he turns 100.

This does not tell David how much they can spend.

The question it leaves him with is: what income would still be there in 29 years, and what would the surviving partner need?

Spending and pension income may change after the first partner dies.

The next part, Your next question, links to two related calculators: the Savings Withdrawal Calculator, where he can enter the amount they would need from savings after their other income and see how long $900,000 might last, and the FIRE Calculator, for how the planning age changes what they would need to stop working.

David's doubt

"Are our two lives really independent? We live together, eat together."

To combine the two estimates, the calculator assumes that one partner's survival does not affect the other's.

Shared circumstances can make the real joint chance different.

The note box under the insights says this plainly.

The rest of the page

The parts below are the same whichever question you chose.

Explore What Your Life Expectancy Results Mean

THE BIGGER PICTURE

What the average age tells you, and what it leaves out

What your number says, what moves it, and what no life table can know about you.

If you are using this number to plan, you are probably setting a horizon: how long your savings need to last, when to start a pension, or how much to spend in the years ahead.

The number on this page is an average for everyone your age and sex in your country, taken from official life tables. It is not a prediction for you. Many people live well past it, and some die well before it. For planning, the spread around the average matters as much as the average itself.

Four things that catch people off guard

Many people live well past the average. For a 65-year-old man in the United States, the average is about 84 and half reach 85. But 1 in 4 reach 91 and 1 in 10 reach 96. A plan that stops at the average can be too short for many people.
Your number is higher than the one in the news. The headline figure (79.0 years in the United States in 2024, according to the CDC) is life expectancy at birth, for both sexes, from one year’s death rates. Your number is for your age and sex, and you have already lived through the early years, so it is usually later.
The average age you reach rises as you get older. The same table gives a 45-year-old American man an average age of about 82, and a 75-year-old an average age of about 87. The number of years left gets smaller, but each year you live, the ages you have already passed drop out of the average.
A couple’s plan needs to cover the longer of two lives. If a man and a woman are both 65, there is about a 58% chance that at least one of them reaches 90 (United States tables, 2026 edition). A household plan has to cover the partner who lives longer, including their income and costs.

What moves your number

Your age. The older you are, the later your average age, as above.

Your sex. Women live longer on average in almost every country. At 65 in the United States, women live to about 87 on average, men to about 84.

Your country. At 65, a man in Japan lives to about 87 on average, in the United States to about 84 and in Nigeria to about 77. These are differences between whole populations. They don’t tell you what moving to another country would do for you.

Future death rates. The tables used here follow people born in your year and use the official expectations for how death rates will change in the years ahead. Those expectations can turn out wrong in either direction.

Worth testing while you’re here

Look at the chance of reaching 90 and 95, not just the average. These are scenarios to test, not a recommended plan age, and some people live past them too. If you have a partner, choose “We’re a couple” at the top of the calculator to see the chance that at least one of you is still alive at each age. If you are curious, compare your country with one or two others.

Once you have an age in mind, the Savings Withdrawal Calculator lets you explore how long savings could last under the assumptions you choose.

What this calculator can’t know

The tables know only your age, sex and country. They don’t know your health, your habits or your family history, and each of these can move the number by years. For example, smokers die at least 10 years earlier on average than people who never smoked, according to the CDC. The tables here include smokers and non-smokers together, so this is not a number to subtract from your result. A clinician can help you understand how your own health affects your risks.

Years of life are also not the same as years in good health or living independently. The projections may turn out wrong in either direction, and for many countries the United Nations figures are modelled estimates rather than a national table.

Financial terms, explained

Words that appear in this calculator or on this page, in plain English.

Life expectancy: The average number of years left for a group of people of a given age, sex and country. This calculator also shows the matching age: your age now plus those years. An average for a group, not a prediction for one person.
Life expectancy at birth: The average for newborn babies. It is the figure usually quoted in the news.
Life table: An official table that shows, out of every 100,000 people, how many are still alive at each age. Governments and the United Nations publish them.
Cohort life table: A life table that follows people born in one year through their lives, using the death rates expected in each future year. This calculator uses these. ONS: period and cohort life expectancy explained ↗
Period life table: A life table built from the death rates of a single year, as if they stayed the same for life. When death rates are falling, it usually gives a lower average than a cohort table.
Half reach (median age reached): The age that half of the people your age live past. It is often close to the average but not the same.
Chance of reaching an age: Out of every 100 people your age, how many are still alive at that age. 30% means about 30 in 100.
At least one of a couple: The chance that one or both partners are still alive at a given age. It is at least as high as the chance for either person alone. The calculator treats each life separately, as the tables do.
Longevity risk: The risk of living longer than your money lasts.

Common questions about life expectancy

Where do these numbers come from, and can I trust them?

From official life tables: the Social Security Administration for the United States, the Office for National Statistics for the United Kingdom, and the United Nations (World Population Prospects 2024) for every other country. When we built the calculator (October 2026), we compared its results with the Social Security and ONS online calculators and with the UN’s own published figures. Open “Where these numbers come from” under your result to see the exact source and edition.

Why doesn’t it ask about my health or my family history?

This calculator uses population life tables grouped by age, sex and country. It does not make personal adjustments for health or family history, because that would need a separately tested model. Your health, habits and family history can move your own number by years in either direction.

Why is my result different from another life expectancy calculator?

Calculators can use different table editions, different ways of counting age, or different assumptions about the future. Some use one year’s death rates, others follow people born in your year. Check that you are comparing the same inputs and data sources. The Social Security Administration’s calculator is also based on Social Security’s own tables.

Does this tell me how many healthy years I have left?

No. It counts years of life, not years in good health or living independently. Many people spend some of their later years with health problems, which can matter for plans like when to travel or how much to set aside for care.

Can this tell me when to start Social Security or my State Pension?

Not on its own. It gives you one input to that decision: how long people your age tend to live, and the chance of a long life. The decision also depends on your health, your other income, whether you are married and your benefit amounts.

Does this predict when I will die?

No. It shows averages and chances for a large group of people like you, not a date or an age for one person.

Life Expectancy Calculator (Excel)

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