Analysis: 100 and UP

Stuart Lewis, CEO of Rest Less, a digital community for over-50s, said:

We don’t need reminding that the inexorable rise in the older population will put an impossible strain on the care sector fueling the need to adopt new care practices, new service solutions and new business models. Because as Ethel points out everyone will need someone to care for them even if they don’t reach 100.

January 2024 ONS data finds that the number of people aged over 100 years has more than doubled in the last 20 years.

• 15,120 centenarians were living in England and Wales in mid 2023 - the largest number of centenarians on record and a 26% increase in five years (11,960), and a doubling since 2002 (6,920).
• More than one in six of the over-100s, turned 100 in 2020, products of a post-First World War baby boom.
• Those aged 100 increased by more than half in 2020, to 6,680 up from 4,370 in 2019.
• 20% of all centenarians are women, reflecting a long-standing trend of women living longer than men,
• More than 550,000 people aged 90 or older

Number only set to increase

Stuart Lewis, CEO of Rest Less, a digital community for over-50:

“If population estimates are anything to go by, this number is only set to increase, which will have a remarkable impact on how we live and work.

Reaching 100 is an achievement that deserves to be celebrated but we think it’s important for attention to shift away from the age we are living to, towards the number of healthy years lived.

Paradoxically, while medical advancements during the last century have resulted in an increase in life expectancy globally, this does not guarantee a healthy and disease-free lifespan.

With increasing numbers of us expected to live beyond 100 and evidence of growing inequality of ageing around the country, it’s important to do what we can to boost our own longevity and future quality of life.

Small changes today can make a big difference to our personal ageing experience, both now and in the future – from taking daily exercise to staying socially connected, eating healthy and prioritising good-quality sleep.”

Distribution of people aged 90 years and over

More than one in five people aged 90 years or over were aged 90 years in mid-2022, with the number of people alive at each successive age decreasing.

People aged under 95 years make up the majority of the age 90 years and over population. In England and Wales in 2022, over three-quarters (77.4%) of the total 90 years and over population were aged 90 to 94 years, a fifth (19.9 %) were aged 95 to 99 years and 2.7% were aged 100 years and over. In comparison, in 2002, 80.4% of the total 90 years and over population were aged 90 to 94 years, 17.7% were aged 95 to 99 years and 2.0% were aged 100 years and over, indicating that even at the highest ages, the population is ageing.

On average, women live longer than men therefore there were more women than men aged 90 years and over. There were more females than males at every age in 2022, however the percentage increase in numbers at each age since 2002 was greater for men than for women.

Men are living longer

The number of men reaching each age over 90 years has increased more rapidly than for women. There were 1.9 women to every man in the 90 to 94 year age group and 2.7 in the 95 to 99 year age group, in England and Wales in 2022.

The ratio of women to men widens with age, with 4.4 women to every man in the 100 to 104 year age group and 8.8 in the 105 years and over age group.

Estimated number of people by single year of age from 90 to 104 and 105 years and over and sex, England and Wales, 2002 to 2022

Blue zones under pressure

The UK’s care workforce going to be under the most pressure in Blue Zones - the places where people tend to live the longest.

2021 ONS data shows that England’s Blue Zones are all on the south coast a new analysis of the nation’s centenarians reveals, with East Devon, Arun and the New Forest the three councils with the highest number of residents aged 100 or over.

Nine of the 10 local authorities with the highest proportion of centenarians were by the coast, including Somerset West and Taunton, Rother, North Norfolk, Dorset, Fylde and Folkestone, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed.

Eighteen local authorities across England and Wales had more than 100 centenarians, including Birmingham with 193, Cornwall with 177, Dorset with 176 and Bournemouth with 168. The Isles of Scilly was the only area with no centenarians.

In East Devon, 64 people per 100,000 are 100 or over, while in Arun it is 59 people and in the New Forest 57, according to the data.

Christopher Snowdon, the head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said it was likely that many centenarians living by the sea had not been born in those areas but had retired there.

“While there must be some health benefits from breathing a fresh sea breeze, the most likely explanation for the greater density of old people on the coast is that they go there when they retire.

Since not everyone can afford to do this, the elderly populations found on the coast are likely to be wealthier on average, and we know that rich people tend to live longer than poor people.”