Getting older
The average age of a pope at the end of their service has increased since the 1600s.
This chart shows the average age of popes per century since the 1600s, taken at the time each pope finished being the pope. In the 1600s the average age was 74.2 years old, then 78.2 in the 1700s, 77 in the 1800s, 79 in the 1900s, and 86.3 for the three popes who finished service so far in the 2000s.
