What is the oldest "thing" you can be too young for?

[Flying Snail]

Bus pass is available if you're 60 in Scotland? Along with the free prescriptions at any age!

Apply for or replace an older person's bus pass

How to apply for or replace an older person's bus pass in Scotland, and special conditions for use on trams, trains and ferries.

www.mygov.scot

Wonder if there are any cross-border services which require a 60-65 yr old to pay for the English part of the leg?

Not the border you are thinking of but NI residents can get a 60+ SmartPass at (obviously) 60. At 65 it becomes invalid and they can get a Senior SmartPass, only the latter can be used for journeys outside of NI.

 

[scotrail158713]

Bus pass is available if you're 60 in Scotland? Along with the free prescriptions at any age!

Apply for or replace an older person's bus pass

How to apply for or replace an older person's bus pass in Scotland, and special conditions for use on trams, trains and ferries.

www.mygov.scot

Wonder if there are any cross-border services which require a 60-65 yr old to pay for the English part of the leg?

That’s true re 60 vs 65 although I was more thinking of the u22 bus pass in Scotland. Either way it’s still some way off the one mentioned at age 87.

 

[AM9]

Not the border you are thinking of but NI residents can get a 60+ SmartPass at (obviously) 60. At 65 it becomes invalid and they can get a Senior SmartPass, only the latter can be used for journeys outside of NI.

Presumably that means journeys that enter the RoI are included. how about journeys entirely within RoI? The GB passes are valid for cross-border journeys into the other two nations, but RoI is a separate country.

 

[Flying Snail]

Presumably that means journeys that enter the RoI are included. how about journeys entirely within RoI? The GB passes are valid for cross-border journeys into the other two nations, but RoI is a separate country.

60+ is only valid on trains as far as Newry, beyond that would be full fare. On bus it is the same, and not valid at all on internal NI journeys made by ROI operators, a few of these do exist.

65+ Senior Smartpass is valid on all train and vast majority of bus services across the whole of Ireland.

The reciprocal arrangement is that ROI residents free travel pass is valid in ROI and on cross-border services but all ROI over 66 years are entitled to apply to NI office for a NI Senior Smartpass for travel in NI.

 

[AM9]

60+ is only valid on trains as far as Newry, beyond that would be full fare. On bus it is the same, and not valid at all on internal NI journeys made by ROI operators, a few of these do exist.

65+ Senior Smartpass is valid on all train and vast majority of bus services across the whole of Ireland.

The reciprocal arrangement is that ROI residents free travel pass is valid in ROI and on cross-border services but all ROI over 66 years are entitled to apply to NI office for a NI Senior Smartpass for travel in NI.

That looks like sensible progress, - prep for a refefrendum?

 

[swt_passenger]

Believe it was an average of 52 years from birth back then.

Would that have been skewed downwards by typical infant and childhood mortality at that time? If the idea is to determine the best relationship between the workforce and the pensioners, should statistics include those who never reach adulthood?

My paternal grandmother was one of nine children born just either side of 1900. Although she herself lived until 93, she only had one brother with a long life, and he died at 71. The average of the nine was only about 26.

 

[gg1]

My paternal grandmother was one of nine children born just either side of 1900. Although she herself lived until 93, she only had one brother with a long life, and he died at 71. The average of the nine was only about 26.

Amongst working class people in Britain in that era it was pretty common for men to not reach retirement age.

In the case of my dad, of all the older men in his family (his father, grandfathers, uncles and great uncles), only one of them survived past 70 with the majority not making it to 60. These are men who would have all been born between around 1870 and 1910.

 

[Howardh]

So the "target" is 87. Any advance on that? Are there any nursing homes (that sort of thing) that only admit residents after 90?

 

[owidoe]

The Guinness book of records? You have to be 118 and counting.

 

[Lloyds siding]

So the "target" is 87. Any advance on that? Are there any nursing homes (that sort of thing) that only admit residents after 90?

If you were born on or before the 2nd September 1929 then you can get a passport free of charge...so at 92 (or 93 and a bit) you're too young for a free passport.

Passport fees

How much it costs to renew or get a new adult or child passport and ways you can pay

www.gov.uk

 

[al78]

No, we still have a labour shortage now. The UK has a lower productivity than the larger EU countries as increasing output by investing in productivity is often replaced by encouraging/forcing longer hours. The health of the UK working class population improved along a similar path to that of other European countries, until the last few years when an extended period of austerity following the banking crisis depressed life expectancy more than it did on much of mainland Europe.

A contribution to the UK's low productivity is a recent increase people in their 50's and 60's leaving work either to take early retirement or because of health issues (long COVID being one such issue). Unfortunately it may be that the consequences of years of poor diets and lack of regular physical activity is now starting to appear.

 

[AM9]

A contribution to the UK's low productivity is a recent increase people in their 50's and 60's leaving work either to take early retirement or because of health issues (long COVID being one such issue). Unfortunately it may be that the consequences of years of poor diets and lack of regular physical activity is now starting to appear.

It seems that the UK Government's answer to improved productivity is to allow/encourage/force employees to work longer hours. The opt-out of the EU working time directive was a clear signal that extending hours was seen as an altenative to poor investment in workers' productivity, yet the UK's major competitors in Europe have had higher productivity with shorter working weeks and in some cases, more days holiday. Yet employers still blame 'presenteeism' as a cause despite their insisting on extended hours is the primary cause of that.
Maybe the factors that you mention (poor diets and fitness) are as a result of the hours=productivity ethic.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Believe it was an average of 52 years from birth back then.

Thanks; I wonder what it became a few years later.

As an aside, although life expectancy in those days seems low the difference with now is that many more babies and young children died of illnesses now not life threatening or eradicated and this reduced the average and there were very old people around then, too.

It is the mean (average) age where people die. Different for males and females, and varies by area (diet, lifestyle, health etc)

So life expectancy is age expect to live to, some will live longer, some shorter

There is a regional summary on this link

Britain life expectancy by region 2023| Statista

Between 2021 and 2023, London was the region of the United Kingdom that had the highest average life expectancy for females, at 84.13 years, while South East England had the highest life expectancy for males at 80.32 years.

www.statista.com

Can see the changes over time on this graph, until about 1870 average life expectancy was below 42 years

United Kingdom: life expectancy 1765-2020| Statista

Life expectancy in the United Kingdom was below 39 years in the year 1765, and over the course of the next two and a half centuries, it is expected to have increased by more than double, to 81.1 by the year 2020.

www.statista.com

Thank you for that, but perhaps I didn't explain myself well enough, it's a bit difficult to explain. I was talking not so much about using the number more how it is calculated. If the calculation of life expectancy is an average (or mean) of when people die, that calculation cannot accurately be made for people still alive because we don't know when they will die (an inevitable fact!), and when those people do die the average will change, the direction of change dependent on their age at death (above or below the average) but, because people are being born as well, it's never possible to come to a 'final' average. Presumably the example of an unforeseen future event that shortens lives (like the annihilation of a generation of men in WW!1) is not intended to be included, but it can't also include positive events, such as innovation in health care.

Or is the life expectancy calculation based entirely upon the ages of people who are already dead?

Edit to incorrect auto 'correct'

 

[Pinza-C55]

President of the USA.

 

[Inversnecky]

Amongst working class people in Britain in that era it was pretty common for men to not reach retirement age.

In the case of my dad, of all the older men in his family (his father, grandfathers, uncles and great uncles), only one of them survived past 70 with the majority not making it to 60. These are men who would have all been born between around 1870 and 1910.

When retirement age was first settled on by Bismarck, it was the age at which over half the population would be dead.

 

[nw1]

Slightly related, are there any "young" minimum age barriers beyond 21?

So not retirement-related things, but things you have to be at least 25 for? Or at least 30? Actually I'm not even sure there are any limits of 21 here, in contrast to the USA, where in most areas bars are out of bounds until you reach your 21st birthday, and if you're not carrying ID, considerably beyond that!

In reference to the post above, doesn't the US President have to be at least 40?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Jan 2023 ==

A contribution to the UK's low productivity is a recent increase people in their 50's and 60's leaving work either to take early retirement or because of health issues (long COVID being one such issue). Unfortunately it may be that the consequences of years of poor diets and lack of regular physical activity is now starting to appear.

Though presumably people are smoking less now, which must be increasing life expectancy.

 

[david1212]

Slightly related, are there any "young" minimum age barriers beyond 21?

So not retirement-related things, but things you have to be at least 25 for? Or at least 30? Actually I'm not even sure there are any limits of 21 here, .....

I thought HGV licence was minimum age 21 except if for the MOD but as I read now you just have to work your way through the levels.

Some ' any driver ' car/van insurance policies state minimum age of 25 and likewise if under 25 driving other vehicles with permission but only third party excluded if the policy holder is under 25 but not really what we are looking for here.