Dutch study projects 115 years as maximum human life span

Life expectancy has been steadily increasing over the past century, but that trend will not go on forever.

According to new research from statisticians at Tilburg and Rotterdam's Erasmus universities the maximum "ceiling" for human lifespans is 115.7 years for women and 114.1 years for men.

"On average, people live longer, but the very oldest among us have not gotten older over the last thirty years," profesor John Einmahl told the Agence France-Presse. "There is certainly some kind of a wall here."

According to EinMahl, occasionally people did surpass the wall, noting the person with the longest confirmed lifespan, Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, died at the age of 122 years and 164 days old in 1997.

A US study last year also concluded 115 years as the average maximum human life span.

The findings, released last week are yet to be peer reviewed. According to the findings, the average ceiling age for men is 114.1 years while it is slightly higher for women at 115.7 years.

According to John Einmahl from Tilburg University and Laurens de Haan from Erasmus University, the human lifespan seems to have hit a limit, even as better nutrition, medical care and improved living conditions pushed up life expectancy.

''On average, people live longer, but the very oldest among us have not gotten older over the last thirty years,'' Einmahl told AFP.

He said there was a kind of a wall even as the average life expectancy has increased. He added, that in the Netherlands the number of people reaching 95 has tripled. ''Nevertheless, the maximum ceiling itself hasn't changed.''

The researchers used the Extreme Value Theory of statistics to analyse data taken from some 75,000 deceased Dutch persons. At the time of death, each person's exact ages were recorded at and the period they studied covered 1986 until 2015. They found that the maximum age of human beings did not increase.