Number of people over 100 in UK increases almost fivefold

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Number of people over 100 in UK increases almost fivefold
Rise to 13,350 centenarians in 2012 attributed to better medical treatments, housing, nutrition and living standards, says ONS

James Meikle
theguardian.com, Friday 21 March 2014 12.35 GMT

The number of people over 100 living in the UK has increased nearly fivefold in 30 years as better medical treatments, housing, nutrition and living standards, together with a decline in smoking, significantly improved the chances of surviving to a very old age, the Office for National Statistics has said.

There were an estimated 13,350 centenarians in 2012 – a 73% increase in a decade – and 660 of them were over 105, according to the new figures. Though this generation still represents a very small proportion of the overall population, it provides another stark indication of the mounting problems facing successive governments as they struggle to finance demands on the welfare state including a rising state pension bill.

The number of old men is also rising faster than that for women as the traditional gender gap in life expectancy narrows. There are now thought to be more than 500,000 people aged 90 or over and numbers are rising more steeply after a dip in 2008, which reflected the fall in births during the first world war. Interestingly, 1918 saw the lowest numbers but followed by a postwar baby boom.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014 ... statistics

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