ARMISTICE PLAY
End of war revelry helps boost number of people aged 100
ECSTATIC celebrations to mark the end of the First World War have helped to create a surge in the number of Brits who have reached 100.
The amount of centenarians has shot up by 11% to 13,330 in the space of a year.
There was an even bigger jump in those aged 99 – up 62% to 12,000.
The rise is partly down to the baby boom that followed the signing of the armistice at 11am on November 11, 1918, which officially brought the war to an end.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics are for 2019 – 99 years after 1920 when more than a million people were born, the most ever in Britain.
ONS statistician Rose Giddings said: “Despite a low number of births 100 years earlier, we saw an uptick in the number of people aged 100 years and over in 2019, due to medical advances and improvements in public health during their lifetime.
“The birth spike after World War One has resulted in an unusually large birth cohort who are aged 99 in our latest figures.
“As those who survive reach 100 years of age, the number of centenarians is expected to increase sharply, however, other factors, such as the coronavirus pandemic could influence this.” The figures also show the number of over-90s topped 600,000 for the first time, a rise of 3.6% compared to 2018.
The ONS said: “Historical improvements to male life expectancy continued to narrow the gap between men and women in this age group to its lowest level on record, with around two women to every man.”
Separate ONS figures showed a large gap between the areas with the lowest and highest life expectancies.
The worst was Glasgow City at 73.6 years for men and 78.5 for women. The best was Westminster at 84.9 for men (11.3 more than Glasgow City) and 87.2 for women (almost nine more than Glasgow City).
Overall life expectancy in England has increased slightly – to 79.8 years for men, and 83.4 years for women.