As a followup to my recent post about how standards of living have dramatically improved over the past few decades (despite what some people might try to tell you), here are some very interesting data about life expectancies of various age groups in various countries grouped by country income [via JR, my favourite drug dealer]:
Over the 40-year time span for which these data were collected, death rates fell for every age group in every country grouping, regardless of their income levels.
Surely improved health care and increased life expectancy are signs of a generally improved standard of living, and these results hold (in general) throughout the world for high- and low-income nations alike.