It is true: many beneficial new therapies have extended the average life span and have driven a lot of the rise in costs.

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There is a high mortality rate -- with an average life span of only 47 -- minimal infrastructure and limited tools for economic development.

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That roughly means there's a 50% chance she'll live that long (roughly, because the median life span is not necessarily the average life span).

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Republican governments have added 20 years to the average life span.

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Cockatoos have an average life span of 40 to 70 years, although it is not unheard for some cockatoos to make it to the ripe old age of 80.

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In Roman times the average life span was just 22 (mainly because of the appalling rate of infant mortality), by 1800 it was 40 years, 1900 around the late 40s and today it hovers around the mid-to-late 70s.

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These patients have a 25 times greater risk of kidney failure, heart attacks, strokes and blindness, and have an average of 15 years sliced off their life span.

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