PARIS (Reuters) – The amount of time that 65-year-olds in France can hope to live without health issues has increased by more than two years since 2008, French statistics agency DREES said on Thursday.

As opposition parties contest a government plan to increase the retirement age by two years to 64 in order to prevent pension system deficits, DREES said that, in 2021, men aged 65 could hope to live another 11.3 years without health issues and women another 12.6 years.

Those spans were up two years and seven months for women and two years and eight months for men since 2008, it said.

The amount of time 65-year-olds could expect to live without major health issues rose to 18.8 years for women and 16.2 years for men, DREES said in a statement.

Life expectancy at birth in France has been on a steady upward slope for decades, but the extra years are not necessarily spent in good health, the agency said.

DREES has been tracking “healthy lifespan” expectations since 2018.

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