increased dramatically. In developed Western societies males can expect to live well beyond seventy years of age, with females exceeding a life expectancy of eighty years in at least seventeen countries, according to Dishman, Washburn and Heath (2004). Average life expectancy was less than fifty only in the middle of the last century in the USA (Malina 1988). Similarly, other indicators of physical and mental health have shown improvements,although Malina (1988) says that these are largely restricted to the ‘developed’ countries.Indeed, it has been an explicit health objective for many international and national organisations and governments to increase both longevity and quality of life