(Reuters) - The number of people 65 and older around the world will more than double from 506 million to 1.3 billion by 2040, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report.
Here are some facts on the aging world population from the report:
* Japan, with 22 percent of its population aged 65 or over, is the world’s oldest major country
* China has the largest elderly population -- 106 million. India comes next with 59.6 million, the United States has 38.7 million, Japan has 27.5 million and Russia has 19.9 million.
* By 2040, more than one in four Europeans is likely to be at least 65, and one in seven is likely to be at least 75.
* Getting old is no longer just for the rich - 62 percent of all people aged 65 and over now live in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Oceania.
* Life expectancy for babies born in Japan and Singapore has reached 82.
* French babies will live to be 80.9 on average, while those born in Sweden, Italy, Australia and Canada can expect to live to be more than 80.
* U.S. life expectancy is a middling 78, above Tunisia with 75, Guatemala at 70 and AIDS-ravaged Zimbabwe at 39.7
* In 1900, women in Europe and Northern America typically outlived men by two or three years on average but have widened that gap to seven years now.
Reporting by Maggie Fox in Washington, Editing by Todd Eastham
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