Centenarian

A centenarian is a person who has attained the age of 100 years or more. The term is associated with longevity because average life expectancies across the world are far from 100. Much rarer, a super-centenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more.

The United States currently has the greatest number of centenarians in the world, numbering over 55,000 in the year 2005. The U.S. number is partly a function of America's large population in 1890-1905, and an increased emphasis on Long-term Care (LTC) facilities. Japan is second, with 25,000. Many experts attribute this (and Japan's very high life expectancy) to the Japanese diet, which is particularly low in fats. Japanese centenarians receive a silver cup and a certificate from the Prime Minister of Japan upon their 100th birthday, honoring them for their longevity and prosperity in their lives. In Japan, September 15 is "National Respect for the Aged Day".

In the United States, centenarians traditionally receive a letter from the president upon reaching their 100th birthday, congratulating them for their longevity. Willard Scott of NBC's Today show has also named them on air since 1983. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms, the Queen sends greetings (formerly as a telegram) on the 100th birthday and on every birthday starting with the 105th. Centenarians born in Ireland receive a €2,500 "Centenarians' Bounty" and a letter from the President of Ireland, even if they are resident abroad.

Among Hindus, people who touch the feet of elders are often blessed with "May you live a hundred years". In Sweden, the tradition birthday song states, May he live to his hundredth year. In Iran, the term May you live to be 120 years old is used for blessing someone. In Poland, Sto lat, a wish to live a hundred years, is a traditional form of praise and good wishes; the Jewish tradition, however, is more ambitious, "May you live as long as Moses", or 120 years. Chinese emperors were hailed to live ten thousand years. In Italy, "A hundred of these days!" (cento di questi giorni) is an augury for birthdays, to live to celebrate 100 more birthdays.

Were There Centenarians in Ancient Times?

While the density of centenarians per capita was much less in ancient times than today, the data suggest that reaching the age of 100 was not impossible then. Though ancient demographics are biased in favor of wealthy or powerful individuals rather than the ordinary person, it is unscientific to suggest that "ordinary persons" lived longer. Grmek and Gourevitch speculate that during the Classical Greek Period, anyone who made it past the age of five years - surviving all the common childhood illness of that day - had a reasonable chance of living to a ripe old age. Life expectancy at 400 B.C. was estimated to be around 30 years of age. One demographer of ancient civilizations reported that Greek men lived to 45 years (based on a sample size of 91), while women lived to 36.2 years (based on a sample size of 55). Curiously, the gender statistics are inverted compared to today, since child-birth was a much more traumatic experience at that time than now, and it certainly skewed female statistics downward. It was common for average citizens to take great care in their hygiene (sanitation), Mediterranean diet (fish, figs, olive oil, wine, etc.), and exercise program (sports/gymnasium), although there was much more male trauma per capita than today, due to military service being virtually universal for citizens, and war at that time being a far more visceral and bloody affair than today. This also biased the statistics for men downward.

Diogenes Laertius (c. 250) gives the earliest (or at least one of the earliest) references about (plausible centenarian) longevity given by a scientist, the astronomer Hipparchus of Nicea (c. 185 – c. 120 B.C.), who, according to the doxographer, assured that the philosopher Democritus of Abdera (c. 470/460 – c. 370/360 B.C.) lived 109 years. All other accounts about Democritus given by the ancients appear to agree in the fact that the philosopher lived over 100 years. Such longevity would not be dramatically out of line with that of other ancient Greek philosophers thought to have lived beyond the age of 90 (e.g.: Xenophanes of Colophon, c. 570/565 – c. 475/470 B.C.; Pyrrho of Ellis, c. 360 - c. 270 B.C.; Eratosthenes of Cirene c. 285 – c. 190 B.C., etc.). The case of Democritus differs from the case of, for example, Epimenides of Crete (VII, VI centuries B.C.) who is said to have lived an implausible 154, 157 or 290 years, depending on the source.

The sixth dynasty Egyptian ruler Pepi II is believed by some Egyptologists to have lived to the age of 100 or more (c. 2278 BC - c. 2184 BC), as he ruled for 94 years. However this is under dispute, as others claim the date should actually be 64 years.

The Indian Sufi poet, Kabir (1398-1518) is believed by some to have lived to an unnatural age of 120 while others believe that he lived for not more than 80 years.

Ultimately, there is no reason to believe that there could not have been a few men/women in a population of 2,500 years ago who were centenarians, even if they were not commonplace.

History

While claims of extreme age have persisted from the earliest times in history, the earliest super-centenarian accepted by Guinness World Records is Thomas Peters, who was born in Groningen, Netherlands, April 6, 1745, and died there March 26, 1857 at almost 112 years of age (Guinness once accepted Pierre Joubert, but later dropped him, when it was discovered that he had been confused with his father). However, scholars such as Jean-Marie Robine consider Geert Adriaans Boomgaard of the Netherlands as well (1788-1899) to be the first verifiable case, as the alleged evidence for Peters has been 'lost'. The earliest super-centenarian to reach the age of 113 is Delina Filkins, who was born on May 4, 1815 and died on December 4, 1928 in Herkimer County, New York, USA.

Over eight hundred super-centenarians have been documented in history, and this is doubtless a fraction of the number who have really lived, but the majority of claims to this age do not have sufficient documentary support to be validated. This is slowly changing as those born after birth registration was standardized in more countries and parts of countries attain super-centenarian age.

The longest lifespan, documented beyond reasonable doubt, is the 122 years 164 days of Jeanne Calment (1875–1997).

The Guinness Book of World Records accepted in 1978 the claim that Shigechiyo Izumi was born June 29, 1865, and from the 1980 edition considered him the oldest person. He died February 21, 1986 (the 111th birthday of Jeanne Calment). However, subsequent research by some Japanese scholars has cast doubt on his claim, as his birth certificate is believed to refer to that of his older brother who died young and whose name might have been reused as a necronym.

Super-centenarian

A super-centenarian is someone who has reached the age of 110 years or more, something achieved by only one in a thousand centenarians. In turn, only about one super-centenarian in 44 lives to turn 115.