Using Cohort life expectancy (which builds in an allowance for future improvements and therefore shows higher projections than Period life expectancy), the ONS projects that female babies born in 2064 in England will live for 100 years.

For males the figure is slightly lower at 97.6 years and across the UK the projections are also slightly lower, at 99.8 years for females and 97.4 years for males.

According to the statistics Scottish women and men have the lowest projections across the UK, at 98.3 years for a girl born in 2064 and 96.1 years for a boy.

Cohort life expectancy projections for UK males aged 65 today show them living for 21.2 years in retirement, whilst females can expect to live 23.5 years.

For those in their early 40s today, looking ahead to 2039, Males reaching age 65 are expected to live for a further 24 years and females for a further 26.1 years.

Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy, at Hargreaves Lansdown, comments: “These figures mean investors reaching retirement today should typically expect to have to make their retirement savings last until their late 80s, however for many people in good health, a retirement extending well into their 90s will be the norm. By the time today’s 40 year olds reach their mid 60s, living to 90 will be unremarkable and anyone in good health will stand a fair chance of reaching 100.

“The inevitable consequence of this trend is that the state pension age will have to rise faster, sooner. Given the mess recent governments made over current state pension age increases, the sooner this problem is addressed and communicated to everyone affected, the better. In the meantime, anyone who wants to be able to stop working in their 60s should think in terms of a target savings rate of 15% of their income.”

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