Why Turks can feel good about getting older

Most of us should feel happy about getting older – as they say, it’s better than the alternative. But some of us can feel happier about it than others.

To find out why, check out this fascinating Google web-site based on World Bank statistics. It shows life expectancy at birth, ie how long you can expect to live if you are born today. By way of illustration I’ve entered data for Turkey, where life expectancy has increased rapidly in recent decades.

In fact, average life expectancy in Turkey has increased rapidly from 1970 onwards, from around 50 then to well over 70 in 2011. On the way, Turkey overtook the world average in around 1996.

To use the site, all you have to do is click on the country of your choice in the list on the left and you can compare developments in life expectancy between countries – or the world average.

If, like me, you are sufficiently sad to love statistics you can spend hours comparing life expectancy and its development in different countries since 1960.  For example,  the United Kingdom has a somewhat better life expectancy than Germany or the United States but lags slightly behind France, Italy and Spain.  Time to move to the Med?