This new 190-page release from the Census Bureau and the National Institute of Aging (NIA) presents comparative data related to aging, including population and projected population internationally, life expectancy, retirement, health information, and social support. The report was, in part, inspired by a review from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that argued for an international focus on...

While the average human lifespan has increased markedly over the past one hundred years, the ceiling has hardly been reached. An interesting contest, The Methuselah Mouse Prize -- presumably named after the biblical character who was said to have lived 969 years -- seeks to "promote public interest and involvement in research on mammalian life extension and encourage more such research on mice and...

The quest for youth and longevity has been an interest of humankind for millennia, so it is not surprising that recording statistics on human longevity is done with great interest. On September 26, 2002, it was announced that Vu Thi Dao of northern Vietnam may in fact be the world's oldest person, although her birth certificate only lists the year in which she was born, and not the exact date....

The World Health Organization (WHO) released their 1999 report on the state of the World's Health. Citing successes in the decline of mortality and an increase in health and economic productivity for much of the world, the report balances its good news with analysis of continuing problems of malnutrition, infectious diseases, tuberculosis, and tobacco use in much of the developing world. Data...