Do you really want to live to be 100?
I’m one of life’s optimists. When I think about living to be 100 years old, I picture a birthday party where I am surrounded by my devoted descendants, perhaps followed by a commercial space flight as a celebratory treat.
But I’m in the minority here. A lot of people would rather be dead. In a recent UK poll by Ipsos, only 35 per cent of people said they wanted to become centenarians.
Men were keener on the idea than women (43 per cent to 28 per cent) — a shame really, since women are more likely than men to achieve it. Age is a factor too: older people are less likely to want to live to 100 than younger ones, perhaps because they have already had a taste of poor health, or have gone through the experience of caring for elderly parents who suffered in their later years. In the poll, fewer than one in five people thought they would have a good quality of life if they reached 100.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Sarah O'Connor
