25 September 2018
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Data released on number of centenarians in England and Wales, 2017
Estimates of the very old, including centenarians, has been released by Office for National Statistics.
Estimates of the very old, including centenarians, has been released by Office for National Statistics.
Today’s data shows that in 2017 there were 579,776 people aged 90 or over living in the UK, including 14,430 centenarians.
Other key findings include:
· The 90 and over population continues to increase despite a decline in births in England and Wales 90 years ago. This reflects improvements in mortality going back many decades
· The number of centenarians decreased slightly between 2016 and 2017 reflecting low numbers of births during World War One but is expected to continue to increase again from 2019
· The number of centenarians has increased by 85% over the last 15 years. However, centenarians still only make up 2.5% of those aged 90 and over
Mortality improvements
Ngaire Coombs, ONS statistician for the Centre for Ageing and Demography, said: “We are continuing to see higher numbers of people aged 90 and over in the UK due to improvements in mortality going back many decades. While we have seen growing numbers of centenarians in recent years, there has been a slight decrease between 2016 and 2017. This is due to lower numbers of births during World War One. The number of centenarians is likely to increase again from 2019 in line with historic birth patterns.”
Read the full report.
For more on World War I, read Family Tree's centenary special issue, available from our store.
(image copyright Connor Cunningham)
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