One in four girls born in 2049 will live to be 100
In 2049, life expectancy is projected to be 92.4 years for girls and 89.6 years for boys
Around a quarter of girls born in the UK in 2049 are expected to live until at least 100 years of age, new figures suggest.
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And one in five boys born in the same year could live to celebrate their centenary, according to new projections from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The data is modelled on past trends in annual death registrations and combined with the input from a panel of experts.
It suggests that girls born in the UK in 2024 can expect to live to the age of 90.2 years on average, with boys living to 86.9 years.
In 2049, life expectancy is projected to be 92.4 years for girls and 89.6 years for boys, an increase of 2.2 years and 2.6 years respectively from 2024.
Of babies born in 2049, some 26.3 per cent of girls and 19.1 per cent of boys are expected to live to see their 100th birthday.
This is an increase from 19.1 per cent of girls and 12.0 per cent of boys born in 2024.
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The gap in life expectancy between females and males in the UK has fallen from 4.4 years in 1981 to 3.3 years in 2024.
It is projected to fall further, to 2.9 years, by 2049.
The data also suggests that women who were 65 in the UK in 2024 can expect to live a further 22.7 years on average, with men living a further 20 years.
The 2024 projections are similar to those published for 2022, the ONS said.
All data is based on what is known as cohort life expectancy, which takes into account projected changes in mortality patterns over the lifetime of a group of people with the same year of birth.