One in four Swiss girls born in 2017 could reach 100

A Swiss boy or girl born in 2017 could well live to the age of 81.4 and 85.4 years, respectively. And one in four women from this generation could reach 100, new life expectancy figures show.

In life expectancy terms, Swiss men are slowly catching up with women. Boys born in 1997 had an average life expectancy of 76.3 years, 5.8 years less than girls born the same year, the Federal Statistical Office said on Thursday.

On average, Swiss boys born ten years later in 2007 are likely to reach 79.4 years, while the age for girls is 84.2 years, a difference of 4.8 years. For the generation born in 2017, this gap should narrow to four years.

For children born in 1917, only 0.4% of boys and 1.7% of girls reached 100. This possibility rises to 4% of men and 11% of women born in 1967. For those born in 2017, 15% of men and 26% of women could well blow out 100 candles.

The steady increase in average lifespan over the past century is largely due to a decrease in infant mortality and a decline in the number of deaths from infectious diseases at all ages, the statistical office said.