LONDON, July 15 (UPI) -- Britain's newest generation of children is likely to live a full 20 years longer than their grandparents, a report on life expectancy says.
Healthier lifestyles and improved medical science means on average a girl born today will live to be 82 and a boy to 78, figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate.
In 1930 it was expected boys born that year would reach the age of 58 while for the average expected lifespan for girls was about 62 years, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The report in the ONS journal Social Trends said elderly people could expect more of their longer years of life to be spent in good health.
"As well as living longer, men and women are staying healthy and disability free for more of their lives," it said.
One of the main reasons cited for the two-decade increase in life expectancy is "the considerable decrease in infant mortality rates which were at their lowest recorded level in 2010," the report said.
In 1930 the infant mortality rate was at 6.3 percent, with more than one in 20 children dying before reaching 1 year of age. In 2010 the rate was down to less than 0.5 percent, the report said.
