Published on N-IUSSP.ORG January 23, 2017 International differences in life expectancy gains (and in their cost) Vivre plus longtemps (et le prix à payer) dans 14 pays développés Nick Parr , Jackie Li , Leonie Tickle Ongoing increases in life expectancies may slow the growth of living standards in developed countries. One reason for this is that reductions in mortality rates, which these days are generally greater in the older ages, lower the proportion of the population who are active in the labour force. However, the extent of future life expectancy increase and its effect on the share of population in the labour force will vary considerably between countries A recent study by Parr et al. ( 2016 ) considers the prospects for 14 countries; Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and USA. It combines a new method which generates relatively accurate and coherent forecasts of future death rates (Li 2013 , Li et al. 2016 ), and a new method for evaluating the effects of projected population trends on living standards (Parr and Guest 2014 ). Recent and forecasted future trends in life expectancy Life expectancy gains have varied from country to country. For both sexes, Portugal had the fastest increase in life expectancy at birth between 1970 and 2010, much of which was due to reductions in infant mortality. Japanese life expectancies increased greatly over this period, and Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and the UK also made relatively large gains. Following stagnation or even – for males – declines over 1970-90, life expectancy at birth increased dramatically after 1990 in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. In contrast, throughout 1970-2010 the increases in life expectancy at birth for the Netherlands, Sweden, USA and Canada were relatively slow.