# What is my life expectancy?

Looks up the average remaining years of life for an age and sex in the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, and the chance of living to a chosen age.

- Page: https://www.acalculator.org/health/life-expectancy-calculator
- JSON spec: https://www.acalculator.org/health/life-expectancy-calculator.json
- Version: 9015d92900b1

## Default answer

Example with the default inputs (Age 40, Sex Male, Chance of living to age 90): At age 40, the SSA 2023 period life table gives 38.59 more years, to about age 78.59.

## Inputs

| Key | Label | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| age | Age | Age at the last birthday, 0 to 119. |
| sex | Sex | The life table has separate rows for males and females. |
| to | Chance of living to age | An age to see the chance of reaching, above the current age, up to 120. |

## Outputs

| Key | Label | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| remaining | Life expectancy | The average number of years left at this exact age: the table’s period life expectancy. |
| expectedAge | Average age at death | The current age plus the life expectancy. |
| reach | Chance of living to that age | The chance of reaching the chosen age: the product of the one-year survival chances (1 − q) from now to then. |
| thisYear | Chance of dying within a year | The table’s probability of dying before the next birthday, q. |

## Method

Life expectancy = the SSA table’s period life expectancy for the age and sex; chance of living from age x to age N = (1 − q_x) × (1 − q_{x+1}) × … × (1 − q_{N−1}).

## Assumptions

- The numbers come from the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, used in the 2026 Trustees Report, for the Social Security area population.
- A period life table uses the death rates of one year (2023) for the rest of a life; it does not forecast future improvements, so it is not a personal prediction.
- Age is the exact age at the last birthday; the table does not know about health, habits or family history.

## Worked examples

1. age = 65, sex = male, to = 90 gives remaining = 18.12, expectedAge = 83.12, thisYear = 1.6455%, reach = 24.104558%. Source: SSA 2023 period life table (2026 Trustees Report): male at 65, life expectancy 18.12, death probability 0.016455.
2. age = 0, sex = female, to = 100 gives remaining = 81.06, expectedAge = 81.06, thisYear = 0.5125%, reach = 2.758197%. Source: SSA 2023 period life table (2026 Trustees Report): female at birth, life expectancy 81.06, q 0.005125.
3. age = 40, sex = female gives remaining = 42.64, expectedAge = 82.64, thisYear = 0.1643%. Source: SSA 2023 period life table (2026 Trustees Report): female at 40, life expectancy 42.64, q 0.001643.

## FAQ

### What is life expectancy at my age?

It is the average number of years still to live for people of your exact age and sex, if the death rates of one year applied for the rest of their lives. In the 2023 table, a 65-year-old man has 18.12 years on average, and a 65-year-old woman 20.66.

### Why does my life expectancy go up as I get older?

Each year you live, you have avoided the deaths that could have happened in that year. So your expected age at death rises. At birth, a boy’s life expectancy is 75.79 years; a man who has reached 65 can expect to live to about 83.1.

### What is a period life table?

A table built from the death rates of one calendar year, age by age. This page uses the 2023 table, which the Social Security Trustees used in their 2026 report. It does not assume that death rates will keep falling, so it is not a forecast for any one person.

### How is the chance of reaching an age worked out?

The table gives, for each age, the chance of dying within a year. The chance of surviving each year is 1 minus that. Multiply those yearly chances from your age up to the target age. For a 65-year-old man, the chance of reaching 90 is about 24.1%.

### Does this account for my health or habits?

No. It uses only age and sex. Smoking, health conditions, income and many other things change a person’s outlook, but they are not in this table.

### Whose deaths are in the table?

The Social Security area population: residents of the 50 states and DC, the US territories, federal civilian employees and armed forces abroad and their families, and other US citizens abroad.

## Sources

- Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Actuary. Actuarial Life Table: 2023 period life table for the Social Security area population, as used in the 2026 Trustees Report. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html (read on 2026-09-29 from the Internet Archive copy of 2026-09-28: http://web.archive.org/web/20260928232801/https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html)
- Social Security Administration. The 2026 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/