How long do you think we should live, Bahrain?

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

When the New York Times put this question be- fore their readers sometimes back, the respondents, the majority of them, said 80 years. Another group, 30% of the re- spondents said 120 years and 10% said they wanted 150 years of life on this lovely Earth.

Interestingly, less than 1% also lapped the idea of not dying. Yeah, that is right, living forever. So, what do people in Bahrain think about this? Well, before answering, let’s take a look at what WorldData says about life expectancy.

According to them, the average life expectancy of a country usually draws a conclusion of medical and hygienic standards. They also say the oldest people in the world can be 115 years and even older. Interestingly, most of these records are in the US, Japan and a few European countries.

The 12-member West Asia Region, in which Bahrain is a member, according to Worlddata.info, offers men 72.52 years and women 77.16 years. Not bad. Isn’t it? To be more specific, Bahrain is on the 40th rank amongst world nations in this regard, according to WorldData. Accordingly, men in Bahrain have a life expectancy of 76.6 years and women 78.6 years.

Yeah, you are seeing it right! Women outlive men in the Kingdom, where there are 2,247 inhabitants per km†. This means Bahrain is also one of the most densely populated countries in the world. So, now you know what the data says? Now let’s check the life expectancy at the top of this ranking.

The list puts Hong Kong at the top, where men would live 82.9 years and women 88.0 years. Then comes Iceland, where life expectancy is 82.9 years (men) and 84.5 years (women). Just ahead of Bahrain in the Middle East is the UAE, where the life expectancy of males is 77.4 years and females 79.5 years. Neighbouring Saudi Arabia comes below Bahrain and after 16 countries. Saudi citizens, the data says, would live 74.1 years (male) and 76.9 years (female).

Kuwait has a slightly better life expectancy, where males would live 74.9 years and females 76.7 years. Central Africa offers the worst life expectancy, where men could live 51.5 years and women 55.9 years. Now, where does the USA stands? The USA is just above Saudi Arabia in this regard.

In America, currently marred with gun violence, men have a life expectancy of 74.5 years and women 80.2 years. This means, that a male child born in the US today will live up to 74.5 years on average. The data puts the male citizens of the US in 53rd place in this ranking.

On average, US women are even 5.7 years older, reaching an age of 80.2. The world-average age of death is a few years lower at 70.6 years for men and 75.1 years for women. In the European Union, these are 77.8 and respectively 83.3 years. Now, if you are thinking, now what? Here comes the next question. Do we have some kind of fix to increase life expectancy? A question most people would like to ask. Data shows that life expectancy actually improved over the years.

NY Times report says since 1900, the life expectancy of Americans has jumped to just shy of 80 from 47 years. This surge comes mostly from improved hygiene and nutrition, but also from new discoveries and interventions: everything from antibiotics and heart bypass surgery to cancer drugs that target and neutralize the impact of specific genetic mutations. So, for those in Bahrain, which stands on top, when it comes to health care, the chances are enormous.

NY Times report also quotes the United Nations in this regard. UN estimates that life expectancy over the next century will approach 100 years for women in the developed world and over 90 years for women in the developing world, even without a new high-tech “fix” for ageing. So, irrespective of whether we have a cutting-edge biomedical fix on not, the data tell us that maintaining hygiene is the key to the elixir of life.

In these times of the COVID-19 pandemic, these measures have paramount importance. Besides, reports also say that companies are currently working on new compounds that may expand people’s life span. Sirtis, part of GlaxoSmithKline, reportedly is working on a drug to treat the inflammation that can slow ageing. The drug, they say, seems to work on mice and other animals. Stem therapy is another area we humans focus on breaking the immorality key.

Bionics is yet another area that includes the augmentation or replacement of biological functions with machines. The science is advancing so fast that a few years down the lane, someone, someday, might come up with a pill or another that would slow ageing the way one prefers.

The NYTimes report also imagines that if such a pill were there in the times of Albert Einstein, he would be 143 years old. However, it is difficult to think of all things he would have done if he was alive.