How Many People Actually Reach the Age of 100?

Some people want to extend their life and reach the magical age of 100, some would wish to finish the journey way before that. Regardless of one’s wishes to reach the age of 100 or not, no one can really choose the life expectancy on this planet, unless…

A centenarian is a term for a human being who lives to or beyond the age of 100. In 2019, the estimation of all centenarians around the globe is about 450,000. This figure is most likely not accurate as there is a large number of people around the world who are not registered, around 1.1 billion (mostly children).

A supercentenarian is a person who reaches the age of 110 and according to Wikipedia, 47 people reached the age of 100 in recorded history. Nowadays, the oldest woman alive is the Japanese Kane Tanaka who is 116 years old.

What are the odds to live for 100 years?

Well, there are so many statistics trying to evaluate the odds of living to the age of 100 years or beyond. Obviously, it depends on geography, gender (women live longer than man) and the time you live in. Life expectancy increased significantly in the last century. To be honest, the data is a bit vague and not sure if we can precisely calculate the odds of living to the age of 100.

Yet, chances are not very good, so if you have plans for your 100 birthday, cancel it.

In Western countries, the odds to live for at least 100 years range between 1.73 per 10,000 people, or 0.000173% in the United States to 3.43 in Japan, 0.000343% which is the highest in the world according to the U.S. Census Special Report on Centenarians. In France, the odds are 2.7, in the UK 1.95 and in Sweden 1.92 per 10,000 people.

Data regarding the number of centenarians is being published every decade, the last report was being published in 2010.

Well, human beings are an instinct creature trying to extend life expectancy. The average life expectancy around the world in 1900 was 31, 48 in 1950 and 71.5 in 2014. With the rise in population and medical technology, there are estimations of 4.1 million centenarians around the globe in 2050 among the estimated 9.8 billion people in the world in 2015, 0.000418%. If you like it or not, maybe you will be one of them.