RISE OF THE CENTENARIANS

The number of very old people i n Britain is growing

MORE pensioners than ever before are living past their 90th birthday. The latest figures show there were 605,181 people aged 90 or older in 2019, which is a rise of 3.6 per cent compared to the 584,024 in 2018. That figure includes Queen Elizabeth II and TV naturalist David Attenborough, who both celebrated their 94th birthdays earlier this year; and Prince Philip, who is now aged 99.

The very old population has risen dramatically in 10 years. In 2009, there were 21,157 fewer nonagenarians and centenarians, meaning a rise of 44 per cent in a decade.

At almost every age from 90 upwards the number of people alive was higher than it was in the previous year.

The largest increase was in people who had celebrated their 99th birthday - up 62 per cent.

All those people would have been born in either 1919 or 1918, which coincides with the end of the First World War.

Following the return of the soldiers, births spiked in the latter half of 1919, around nine months after the end of the war.

Almost half as many (45 per cent) more babies were born between mid1919 and 1920 than in the year before.

As a result there is expected to be a large increase in the number of centenarians in the second half of this year - although there are fears that the coronavirus pandemic could change that.

The elderly are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 and infections have spread through many care homes across the country in recent months.

In 2019, there were 13,330 centenarians, who had all received a letter of congratulations from the Queen.

The number of people aged 100 or over had increased by 11 per cent, compared to 2018.

Wales has the highest proportion of male and female centenarians in the UK.

The latest figures also show there were just over twice as many women as men aged 90 or over last year.

However, the number of male semisuper centenarians( people aged 105 and over) has more than doubled in the last decade, while the number of women aged 105 and over rose by about half.

Currently, Britain’s oldest living citizen is believed to be Joan Eileen Hocquard, of Poole in Dorset, who was born in 1908 and turned 112 in March.

Rose Giddings, of the Centre for Ageing and Demography, said: “The UK population aged 90 years and over grew to its largest size in 2019.

“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.

"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."