The month you were born in could determine if you live to at least 100

Centenarians are one of the fasted growing age groups in the UK with the number of people living 100 almost doubling.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics , there were 7,750 100-year-olds in 2002 and that jumped to 14,910 in 2016.

The boom in numbers has been attributed to the babies born after WWI and, obviously, improved mortality rates among the older generations.

While they only make up 0.02% of the whole population in 2016, the Queen has been busier than ever sending out birthday letters.

But what are the chances of living to the ripe old age of 100 and beyond?

The number of congratulatory messages sent by the Queen to people reaching their 100th birthday may have risen by up to a half over the past decade (PA)

Well, according to one study , it seems that the season you were born in has a lot to do with your possible longevity.

Research carried out by professors at the University of Chicago in 2011 revealed people born in autumn were more likely to live 10 decades than the other seasons.

They looked at 1,574 centenarians born in the US between 1880 and 1895 and compared their birth months to their 10,885 shorter-lived siblings and 1,083 spouses.

You have a better chance of living longer if you were born in November, and it is good news for all those September babies, as they come in second.

According to figures from the ONS, September is the most popular birth month, with the 26 being the day of the year when the most babies are born - obviously thanks to the Christmas and New Year festivities.

Authors of the study Leonid A. Gavrilov and Natalia S. Gavrilova said: "It was found that months of birth have significant long-lasting effect on survival to age 100: siblings born in September–November have higher odds to become centenarians compared to siblings born in March.

"A similar month-of-birth pattern was found for centenarian spouses.

"These results support the idea of early-life programming of human aging and longevity."

According to their findings, here are the months ranked:

12. March - you have a decreased chance of making it to 100-years-old

11. July

10. January

9. April

8. December

7. June

6. May

5. February

4. August

3. October

2. September

1. November - if you were born in November, you have a greater chance of making it to 100 than other months.

The study, published in the Journal of Aging Research , did admit there were limitations to their conclusions, particularly with the large family sizes of those studied not being a true representation of the general population.

But it insisted seasonal birth rates do have an impact on chances to live longer.