One fact stands out from the life expectancy figures published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics. Britons of every social class, be they men or women, are living longer and longer. Yesterday’s numbers represent an extension of a well-established trend. But familiarity with this welcome and encouraging body of evidence should not breed a cynicism about the benefits of modern society.

Assumptions that the average human life spans three score years and ten are happily outdated and likely to become ever more antiquated. It never was fitting to refer, as some do, to the ageing population as a demographic timebomb. The inference that lengthier lives create unnecessary burdens on society is unfortunate. Rather than worry about the adverse implications of longer lives, it is thoroughly heartening to see positive results. It is necessary, however, to adjust behav-iours and attitudes so that more people can take greater advantage of the opportunities given by the postponement of the inevitable.

Individuals must attend to social and financial necessities. Older people deserve greater respect and care. State, occupational and private pension arrangements, the reputations of which have been so battered in recent years, must be made more flexible. Men and women must get used to the idea of working beyond established retirement ages, and shortages of labour should compel employers to harness septuagenarian talents. There is a place in the jobs market for experience as well as youthful exuberance and older consumers may draw most benefit if older people remain economically active for longer.

Personal security in old age can be enhanced in less structured ways. Those who grow old in supportive communities will find advancing years more enjoyable, and carefully harvested savings will go further. Nursing and medical costs may rise, but, again, it will be more manageable with intelligent preparation. And the relative increase in wealth creation by the able elderly should more than compensate for the health costs of the frail.

Much attention will focus on the differences in life expectancy enjoyed by men and women of contrasting social classes and income groups. It is intriguing to learn that women who are accountants live to an average age of just over 85 while male labourers can count themselves lucky if they survive past 73. In the early 1970s, it was typical for professional men to live just more than two years longer than counterparts in manual work. Now, men in white-collar jobs live nearly three and a half years longer than their blue-collar brethren. The gap in life expectancy between skilled and unskilled women is just under three years – how you work and where you work are significant for both genders.

Government, no doubt, will bask in the reflected glory of longer life spans and claim credit for progressive policies, be they infant immunisa-tion or antismoking campaigns. It should resist the urge to indulge in social engineering, however. Gordon Brown acts as if it is his obligation to iron out inequalities. Not only is it inappropriate for the State to shoulder all of this responsibility, it is likely to be ineffective and may give rise to unpleasant consequences. More people are living to greater ages because individuals are taking responsibility for themselves. We should toast the prospect of a long life, which has become a reality for more people than at any time in human history.