By 2013, this figure had increased to 18 years, while the retirement age had increased by one year. This amounts to a 43% increase in the time spent collecting old-age benefits.[144] [145] When Social Security began paying benefits in 1940, the average 65-year-old female had a period life expectancy of 13.4 years. By 2013, this figure had increased to 20.5 years, while the retirement age had increased by one year.