Have or had: people living longer than they HAVE in the past

[Autumn]

"This situation exists despite people living longer than they HAVE in the past."

I have no idea why HAVE is in this sentence but not HAD.

Thank you.

Autumn

[Alan]

Hi,

I assume this sentence could be developed as:

People are living longer than they have lived in the past

I don't think that replacing have with had will change this for the better. You could write a sentence to show more clearly that the balance of tenses is wrong:

He is doing now more than he does in the past.

This should be: He is doing more now than he did in the past.

Again your sentence should read: People are living longer than they were in the past.

Alan
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