Could we be moving toward a society where many live to be 120 years old? Some experts believe life spans in the U.S. could dramatically increase in the near future, and the U.S. Census Bureau projects that one-in-five Americans will live to be at least 65 and 400,000 will live to be older than 100 by 2050.
However, the American public seems to disagree as to whether the advancement is a good thing, according to Pew Research Center. Unlike whites, Hispanics and blacks view the life expectancy extension to be a “positive development for society.”
“Perhaps most intriguing, there is an association between race and ethnicity and views about radical life extension, with blacks and Hispanics more inclined than (non-Hispanic) whites to favor radical life extension for themselves as well as for society as a whole,” the report went on to say.
“Blacks and Hispanics tend to hold distinctive views on a number of questions that are correlated with views about radical life extension, such as having higher expectations that such scientific breakthroughs will come to pass by the year 2050 and being more inclined to see the growth of the elderly population as good for society.”
Read the full report here.