Eerily accurate online calculator can 'predict how long you'll live' with these simple questions
You can find out exactly when the government expects you to die with an eerie online calculator, and many have been left shocked by the results after answering just a few simple questions.
It's impossible to know exactly when you're going to die, as while your life expectancy provides you with a rough estimate of when people like you are likely to pass away naturally, anything can happen in the years and decades between now and then.
This new tool shared by the UK government's Office of National Statistics (ONS), provides a guideline for when someone matching your age and sex is expected to die of natural causes, reflecting the positive impact that factors like improved working conditions, reduced smoking rates, and enhanced healthcare have caused across the last few generations.
How to calculate your life expectancy
As reported by the Daily Mail, the ONS has produced a simple yet eerie calculator to let you work out your life expectancy, and it's available on the office's website for anyone with a feeling of morbid curiosity.
All you need to do is enter your current age into the box, and then tick the selection that corresponds with your sex to see your result — meaning that you can try it for a number of different scenarios to see the differences.
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After hitting the calculate button, you'll be given a chart that shows the various ages throughout life on the x-axis, and then your chances of reaching that age on the y-axis, with a line showing your progression through life.
By the time you reach the state pension age in the UK – which the chart approximates to be 68-years-old for me – then the chances of survival are still high at 88.7%, but things drop quite swiftly after that.
While there are things you can do to increase your risk of dying early – including a number of unhealthy and harmful habits that millions engage in every single day – your life is largely out of your control.
Have life expectancies increased over the years?
Life expectancy in the United Kingdom has grown considerably over the last 75 years in particular, with two decades added to the average lifespan of both males and females in the country across this time period.
Back in 1950, for example, the average person born in the UK was expected to live to just 68.69 years of age, and this has steadily increased over time despite a recent plateau of sorts in the last decade.
Right now the average life expectancy for a male in the UK is 85-years-old, with that number increasing slightly to 88-years-old for women. The chance of reaching that is around 60%, but don't expect to live much longer unless you're one of the lucky few.
While the world's oldest woman claims to owe her vitality to her love of yoghurt, you might want to rely on similarly healthy habits to live beyond 90, as the chance of becoming a nonagenarian sits at roughly 43.9%.
Passing the century mark is something only a select few can manage – and you even get a letter from the royals if you do so in the UK – but men are only 7.1% likely to achieve this feat, with women passing 100-years-old just 12.6% of the time.