Life expectancy is expected to rise worldwide by 2050, according to findings recently published by The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The institute cites many factors for its findings, including "declining deaths from cardiovascular diseases, respiratory infections and tuberculosis, and maternal and neonatal death."

While the study has outlier countries with much greater gains in lifespan – Singapore tops the list with an estimated life expectancy of 88 – the region of southern Europe, despite poor GDP, has also made strides.

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The institute's findings conclude that the relatively poorer southern European countries of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal will gain higher life expectancy by 2050. The world's oldest living woman at 117, Maria Branyas Morera, is Spanish.

Despite these relatively poorer countries scoring low on GDP in comparison to their high life expectancy, they all possess common characteristics. Normally, more wealth correlates with better health worldwide.

Unlike their fellow top 20 lifespan countries in the study, like Switzerland or Denmark, health might not mean wealth for these southern European nations. 

A 2017 study reveals that Spaniards take 5,936 steps per day on average. For reference, the average American makes only 4,774 in the same study. The cultural heritage of daily movement like walking in nations like Italy and Spain may contribute to their projected high life expectancies.

Additionally, Spanish cities are built more densely populated than their counterparts. Regular social interaction could contribute to higher life expectancy. A 2023 Gallup poll among Spaniards found that just over three quarters, or 76%, reported feeling "fairly" or "very" socially supported.

Intergenerational family living is also more common among Spaniards than Americans, with the same poll reporting that 83% of Spaniards had seen "friends or family who live with you or near you" in the same week of polling.

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The institute projects France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain having life expectancies in 2050 somewhere between 84 and 86 years.

A group of Florida-based treasure hunters recently recovered hundreds of coins from a fleet of 300-year-old shipwrecks off the Atlantic coast this week. 

One of the divers called the find late last month "almost numbing." 

"You don’t expect that," boat captain Grant Gitschlag told FOX 35 on Friday. "You always hope for it, but you never expect it." 

Fellow treasure hunter Corinne Lea agreed that it wasn’t expected "at all," but that’s "how the greatest finds come about."

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Finding the 214 coins and other artifacts they salvaged from the Spanish shipwrecks known as the 1715 Treasure Fleet, is rare, they explained, because they have been salvaged for decades. 

"To get this kind of quantity in a period of a couple of days, is a very exciting start," Gitschlag told the station. 

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The group contracts with Sal Guttuso, who owns 1715 Fleet Queen’s Jewels LLC, the exclusive salvor of the shipwrecks and the U.S. District Court’s custodian. 

The hunters are now working on cleaning 300 years of sea dust off of the coins to make them shine once again and then are ready to head back out to see what else is waiting for them.

The fleet set sail for Spain from Cuba in July 1715 loaded with cargo and treasure from the New World, but much of the fleet sank during a hurricane a week later, according to the 1715 Fleet Queen’s Jewels LLC. 

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It’s the find. It’s all about the find," Lea said. "I love the history, being the first person up in 309 years to find what was once lost in a tragedy."