The “modal age at death” is the most common age at which people in a population die. The modal age at death for women in Japan in 2021 was 93. In France, it was 92.
This metric helps us understand trends in longevity at older ages. Unlike life expectancy, it is not affected by infant or child mortality.
You can see that over time, the figure has been rising steadily. In France in 1970, the modal age at death was 84 years for women, but now it is 8 years higher.
Large gains in longevity have occurred even among the elderly.
