# Life Expectancy at Menopause **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 28, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-expectancy-at-menopause/134286 "2002-10-28T19:46:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kahirsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@kahirsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kahirsch)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-expectancy-at-menopause/134286/1 "2002-10-28T19:46:23Z")
In his recent column, [Why do women experience menopause](http://straightdope.com/columns/020920.html), Cecil makes the common mistake of using the average life expectancy **at birth** to answer the question of why women live so long after menopause. > [@](#): > > Average age at menopause today is 51; average life expectancy in 1900 had only reached 47. This average life expectancy is heavily influenced by infant mortality and has no bearing on the question of how long women live after menopause. ---
**Author:** ![kahirsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@kahirsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kahirsch)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-expectancy-at-menopause/134286/2 "2002-10-28T19:56:55Z")
Following up to my own post, [this page](http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html) from the Information Please almanac, says that in the year 1900, life expectancy for 50 year-old white females was another 21 years. ---
**Author:** ![kahirsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@kahirsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kahirsch)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-expectancy-at-menopause/134286/3 "2002-11-05T05:16:28Z")
There’s an article on [The Importance of Grandma](http://nytimes.com/2002/11/05/health/aging/05GRAN.html) in today’s NY Times