United Kingdom : two times more centenarians in 15 years

michaeljung/Epictura

Published the 27.09.2017 at 18h33

A A

Keywords :

hope to vieRoyaume-Univieillissement

The global population is ageing, and this is especially true in the western countries. Centenarians are more numerous. In the Uk, their number has almost doubled : it went from 7 to 750 in 2002 to 14 910 in 2016, according to figures from the british Office for national statistics (ONS). This represents 0.02% of the population. The female centenarians were five times more numerous than the men.

The trend is even more blatant compared to 1986, when there were 3 642. This is the age group that is growing the most rapidly. The number of people aged over 90 years has also reached a new record of 571 245 individuals.

Baby boom and advances in health

Several factors explain this evolution. It is “largely conducted by people who were born during the baby boom that followed the First world War, and which are now reaching the age of 90 years,” says Ngaire Coombs, analyst of the NSO. They are responsible for the growth of this population, and the ageing within that group “.

The mortality of all ages has also fallen due to progress in medicine, the evolution of the mode of life, nutrition, and progress made on the plan of the smoking, according to the statisticians.