Longevity: Between Aspiration and Everyday Life

Products, start-ups, and new medical approaches related to longevity - understood as the goal of maximizing one's healthy lifespan - are currently attracting considerable attention. Accompanied by countless media reports and an extensive body of advice literature, an entire ecosystem of products, providers, and purported or actual experts has developed around the topic. However, it remains unclear how firmly longevity is actually established as a goal among the general population.

The present study analyzes the current relevance of longevity. We also sought to determine which measures people are already taking and which hold potential for the future. Finally, the study examines what role the state should play and how people would use additional years of healthy life.

To provide context for the findings, the population-representative survey was conducted in five countries: Germany; the United States, as the society in which the trend originated; France and Sweden, as comparison countries with different cultural attitudes toward prevention and state responsibility; and Japan, as an aging society that is open to technology.

People generally want to live longer than their actual life expectancy at birth, with marked differences between countries. The largest gap between aspiration and reality is found in the United States, where younger people also want to reach a particularly advanced age compared with their peers elsewhere. Japan is the only country where people would like to live for fewer years than their actual life expectancy at birth.

In all other countries, the target age rises with age, with income, and with better health.

For the large majority in all countries surveyed, enjoying life takes precedence over longevity. Only a minority is willing to make deliberate sacrifices for a long and healthy life. No sociodemographic group has a majority that prioritizes sacrifice over enjoying life. Older people and higher-income respondents are the most inclined to make sacrifices for a long and healthy life.

A large majority in all countries surveyed believes that a long and healthy life depends primarily on one's own lifestyle. This belief is particularly widespread in France and the United States, as well as among younger people and middle- and higher-income respondents.

Everyday measures that experts associate with a long and healthy life are well established, even if they are not necessarily adopted with longevity in mind. People most often practice abstinence with regard to tobacco and alcohol, less so in relation to diet. Medical longevity offerings remain a niche. At the same time, there is moderate interest in using them in the future, particularly in the United States.

There is no single central barrier to doing more for a long and healthy life. Instead, people face a combination of everyday obstacles. The reasons cited most frequently in Germany are a lack of discipline, costs, prioritizing enjoyment of life, and a lack of time. A lack of knowledge is also frequently cited in Japan, while data privacy concerns are common in the United States.

Overall, there is broad support for government action to promote healthy aging. At the same time, no single government measure enjoys particularly strong support. Less stringent measures such as information and prevention are generally more accepted. Interventions such as bans or additional taxes meet with lower acceptance, particularly in Japan, Sweden, and the United States. Overall, respondents in Germany and France show greater openness to regulatory measures.

Additional years of life are primarily seen as time for quality of life, with a focus on leisure, travel, family, and friends. Work, continuing education, and civic engagement play only a secondary role. Interest in remaining in employment for longer is particularly low: 9 percent in Germany and 13 percent in the United States.

The study concept and questionnaire were developed by NIM. Data were collected via the NIQ eBUS® International. Between May 13 and May 19, 2026, a total of 5,000 people aged 18 to 74 were surveyed, with 1,000 respondents in each of the five countries. The samples are representative of the resident population in this age group in each country.