Progress in medicine and favorable social conditions will allow people to live beyond 100 years in the near future, said Batyr Berdiklychev, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Moscow, in an interview with TASS.
“It can be said that people around the world are now living much longer. Modern preventive methods, improved nutrition, better living and working conditions, and greater access to medical care have all contributed to the increase in average life expectancy,” he said in response to a question about whether medicine can defeat aging and whether people will live to 100 years.
According to Berdiklichev, the majority of people worldwide can already expect to live into their seventies and beyond. At the same time, ‘in every country in the world, not only is the number of elderly people growing, but so is their proportion of the population.’ As the head of the WHO office in Russia noted, this trend is also evident in the Russian Federation.
“I can say that between 2020 and 2050, the global population aged 80 and over is expected to triple, reaching 426 million,” Berdiklichev said.
“According to him, in the near future, advances in medicine—especially in genetics, biotechnology, and pharmacology—will increase human life expectancy to the biological limits of the human body.”
“It’s hard to say what those limits are, as science can still surprise us. Many people have already surpassed the 100-year mark. In this context, the more pressing question may be whether increased life expectancy will also improve quality of life,” he emphasized.
The head of the WHO Moscow office explained that, in addition to medical factors, life expectancy is also influenced by the creation of favorable social and physical conditions, including ‘safe access for older people to public spaces, transportation, and opportunities for social engagement.’
