If you reach 90, how many years are left?

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Suppose you are 90 years old. Or your mother is, or the woman next door. Someone asks how many years are left.

You could guess one or two. The published tables give a longer answer.

In the United States, Social Security publishes a period life table. For each age and sex, it lists how many more years the average person is expected to live, using that year's death rates. These figures come from the 2026 edition.

More years expected, by age (United States, Social Security period life table, 2026)

Read across a row. At 60, the average man has 21.7 more years, which ends at 81.7. At 90, he has 4.0 more, which ends at 94.0. The age reached rises with every birthday.

That may seem to disagree with the figure often quoted for the whole country, about 79 years. Life expectancy at birth counts everyone born, including babies and young adults who died early. Those deaths pull the average down.

Each birthday removes people from the group being averaged. The people who remain have already passed the earlier risks, so their average goes up.

The table has a second column of data. It lists the chance that a person of each age dies within the next year.

Chance of dying within one year (United States, Social Security period life table, 2026)

For men, the yearly chance roughly doubles about every seven years. From 60 to 90 it grows about eighteen times. We worked that out from the table, which does not state it.

Even at 90, about 82 of every 100 men get through the next year. So do about 86 of every 100 women. That is why a 90-year-old man has about four years ahead on average, though each single year carries more risk than the one before.

Other editions of the table agree. The 2016 edition lists 4.08 years for men at 90 and 4.85 for women. The 2023 edition lists 4.11 and 4.80. The figure has stayed close to four for men and just under five for women.

These are averages across large groups. One published note offers a rule of thumb. Add 50% for people in the healthiest quarter and subtract 50% for the least healthy. For a 90-year-old man, that would mean about 6 years or about 2.

The table uses this year's death rates. If those rates keep falling, people now alive may live longer than the table says. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development states this in its own reports. Social Security also publishes a cohort table that assumes the fall continues. For a 65-year-old in 2022 it gives 19.1 years for men and 21.7 for women. The period table for 2023 gives 18.1 and 20.7, about a year less.

If someone asks a 90-year-old how many years are left, the table gives an average. It is about four for a man and nearly five for a woman. It says nothing about the one person asked.

Do you know someone who passed 90? Tell us what their year was like. Someone may be glad to read it.

Sources we read

Life expectancy tables for 2026, republished from the Social Security Administration period life table (men and women, ages 60 to 90, and yearly death probabilities). https://myannuitystore.com/resources/life-expectancy-tables/

Life expectancy tables, 2016 edition, republished from the Social Security Administration. https://www.annuityadvantage.com/resources/life-expectancy-tables/

Social Security life expectancy table, 2023 edition, as republished. https://www.benefora.org/life-expectancy-calculator

Life expectancy table with health adjustment note. https://phenpsa.com/life-expectancy-table/

Life expectancy by country, 2026 (United States about 79 years at birth). https://www.internationalinsurance.com/articles/life-expectancy-by-country/

Social Security trustees report 2022, cohort life expectancy (table V.A5). https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/2022/lr5a5.html

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Health at a Glance 2025, life expectancy at older ages. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/health-at-a-glance-2025_8f9e3f98-en/full-report/life-expectancy-and-healthy-life-expectancy-at-older-ages_599cf359.html