ABSTRACT
Perhaps the most important challenge facing those interested in population health is our ignorance of why life expectancy continues to rise in most countries. This chapter starts with a discussion of why it is difficult to understand what is driving the long-term rise in life expectancy. After discussing the nature and weakness of the relationship with economic growth in the developed world, an attempt is made to identify the kinds of factors which may explain why similar levels of real income are associated with ever higher levels of life expectancy as time goes by.
