We are living longer and longer in France, and the number of centenarians is increasing, as is their number of years, making some of them “super-centenarians”.
The record is Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122 years old. But centenarians are no longer so rare in France… In 2021 there were 27,497 ! And some even manage to exceed the bar of 110 years (without ever beating Jeanne Calment for the moment). The latter also have a small name: they are “super-centenarians”. But who reaches such a great age? L’INED gives its last elements of response on January 19.
4 out of 5 people over 100 are women
First part of the answer: they are mostly women, they represent 84% of them ! On January 1, 2021, there were 23,156. But whether you are a man or a woman, you have never known a greater probability of living so long. And this is due to various factors: medicine that is constantly making progress and improving living conditions in France. The limits are in fact always pushed back, the INED recalls that at the end of the 18th century, Buffon estimated that one could reach 100 years, on the condition of having suffered neither illness nor accident.
Scientists do not rule out that we can live to be 150 years old
Today, we can survive various events and pass the 115-year mark! In recent decades the number of centenarians has skyrocketed, in 1990 there were only 3,760. By 2060 they are expected to be 198,645, according to forecasts. At the same time, the maximum age continues to be pushed back, “from now on, some scientists no longer rule out that human beings can live to be 150 years oldor even more, if knowledge of genetics and the mechanism of aging continues to progress and makes it possible to slow down biological processes”, observes INED.
Source: Human longevity, INED, January 19, 2023.