Free Life Expectancy calculator
Estimate how many years of life you have left and your projected age at death from your current age and sex, drawn from the SSA actuarial period life table — a population-average benchmark, updated live, as you type.
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A population-average statistical estimate, not a prediction for any individual. Not medical or financial advice.
Results are estimates. Consult a professional.
How the life expectancy calculator works
Life expectancy is the average number of years a person is expected to live, measured from a given age. This calculator reads your current age and sex and looks them up in an actuarial life table — the same kind of table insurers and the Social Security Administration use. It returns two numbers: the years of life you have left on average, and your projected age at death, which is simply your current age plus those remaining years.
What your life expectancy number means
The headline figure is your projected age at death — the age you would reach if you lived exactly the average remaining years for someone your age and sex. The second figure, remaining life expectancy, is that average measured in years from today.
One point trips people up. Your life expectancy rises as you age. A newborn boy has a life expectancy at birth of about 76 years, but a man who reaches 65 is projected to about 83 — because he has already survived every risk that ended other lives before 65. Each birthday you reach, in effect, raises your expected age at death a little.
Life expectancy by age and sex
This table gives the average remaining years of life and the projected age at death at common ages, for men and women, from the SSA period life table. Find your age, read across for your sex.
| Current age | Male — years left | Male — to age | Female — years left | Female — to age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (birth) | 75.9 | 75.9 | 80.8 | 80.8 |
| 20 | 56.8 | 76.8 | 61.5 | 81.5 |
| 40 | 38.2 | 78.2 | 42.2 | 82.2 |
| 50 | 29.4 | 79.4 | 33.0 | 83.0 |
| 60 | 21.3 | 81.3 | 24.3 | 84.3 |
| 65 | 17.5 | 82.5 | 20.2 | 85.2 |
| 70 | 14.0 | 84.0 | 16.3 | 86.3 |
| 80 | 8.1 | 88.1 | 9.7 | 89.7 |
| 90 | 4.0 | 94.0 | 4.9 | 94.9 |
Source: SSA Actuarial Period Life Table (expectation-of-life column). Figures are population averages and are rounded to one decimal.
A worked example using the life expectancy calculator
Robert has just turned 65 and is deciding how long his savings need to last. He wants the population-average benchmark for a man his age, and the year his savings would, on average, need to stretch to.
Step 1 — Look up the remaining years
Age 65 is an anchor in the SSA table, so no interpolation is needed. A 65-year-old man has a remaining life expectancy of 17.5 years.
Step 2 — Find the projected age at death
Add the remaining years to his current age: 65 + 17.5 = 82.5 years. On average, a man reaching 65 lives to about his early 80s.
Step 3 — Date the projection
If Robert enters the current year as 2025, the tool adds the remaining years to it: 2025 + 17.5 ≈ 2043. That is the year his plan should, on average, cover to.
Why women live longer than men
At every age the table gives women more remaining years than men. At birth the gap is roughly five years; at 65 women are projected to outlive men by about three. This gap is one of the most consistent findings in mortality data across countries and decades.
The reasons are a mix. Biology plays a part — estrogen appears protective for the heart, and women carry two X chromosomes. Behaviour plays a larger part — men have historically smoked and drunk more, taken more physical risks, and seen doctors less often. As those behaviour gaps narrow, the life-expectancy gap has narrowed too, though it has not closed.
What the life table leaves out
The table knows only your age and sex. It cannot see the factors that most shape an individual lifespan, and those factors swing the number hard in both directions.
- Smoking — a lifelong smoker loses roughly a decade of life expectancy versus a never-smoker; quitting recovers much of it.
- Lifestyle — regular exercise, a healthy weight, moderate drinking, and good sleep each add years that the table averages away.
- Chronic illness — diagnosed heart disease, diabetes, or cancer shifts an individual well below the population average.
- Income and education — in U.S. data, the highest earners outlive the lowest by a decade or more, a gap the unadjusted table hides.
- Family history and genetics — longevity runs in families; parents who reached their 90s are a favourable signal the table cannot use.
Period life tables vs. cohort life tables
This calculator uses a period life table, and that choice matters. A period table takes the death rates of a single year and applies them across every age at once. It answers: given today's mortality, how long would the average survivor at this age live?
A cohort life table instead follows one birth year through life and tries to predict how its mortality will fall over the decades. Because medicine and safety tend to improve, cohort tables usually give longer life expectancies. Period tables are the standard, conservative choice — they make no forecast about future progress.
| Feature | Period life table | Cohort life table |
|---|---|---|
| Based on | One calendar year's death rates | One birth year, tracked over time |
| Assumes future change? | No — today's rates held constant | Yes — projects falling mortality |
| Typical result | Slightly lower life expectancy | Slightly higher life expectancy |
| Common use | Official statistics, this tool | Long-range forecasting |
Both are standard actuarial tools; this calculator uses the period table, as the SSA does for its headline figures.
How to use a life expectancy estimate for planning
The figure is most useful as an input to other decisions, not as a fact about your future. Used carefully, it sharpens several plans at once.
- Retirement income — knowing the average years left helps size how long savings must last; pair it with a retirement projection.
- When to claim Social Security — a longer expected lifespan strengthens the case for delaying benefits; see the Social Security calculator.
- Pension vs. lump sum — the longer you expect to live, the more a lifetime pension is worth; compare with the pension calculator.
- Insurance and estate planning — life-expectancy figures inform how much coverage and what time horizon make sense.
How accurate is this life expectancy calculator?
As a population average, the table is sound. The SSA period life table is one of the most carefully maintained mortality datasets in the world, and the projected age at death it gives for a given age and sex is statistically reliable across a large group of people.
As a personal prediction, it is necessarily imprecise — and it is not meant to be one. The tool uses only age and sex, so it cannot reflect your health, habits, income, or genes, which together explain far more of an individual lifespan than age and sex alone. Values between the table's anchor ages are linearly interpolated, which adds a tiny smoothing error of well under a year. Use the number as a benchmark for planning, lean toward planning past it, and consult a doctor or financial adviser for decisions that turn on your own situation.
Life expectancy definitions
Frequently asked questions about the free Life Expectancy calculator
About this Life Expectancy calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser — your age and sex are never sent anywhere. It reads remaining-life-expectancy values from the SSA actuarial period life table and reports them as a population average, not a prediction for any individual.
Use it alongside our other retirement calculators, or browse the full set of free calculators to plan your savings, benefits, and income for a long life.