People who reach their 100th birthdays this year have seen quite a lot. Born in 1925 between two World Wars, they’ve witnessed the advent of everything from penicillin to TikTok.
But very few people have crossed that mark. Worldwide, there are about 630,000 centenarians – people aged 100 or older – and the vast majority live in just 10 countries, according to the latest estimates from the United Nations.
These 10 countries span Asia, Europe, and North America, and they run the gamut on size, economic strength, politics, healthcare quality, and social structures.
One in five centenarians, or about 123,000 people, live in Japan, which also has one of the world’s highest life expectancies at 88 years for women and 82 years for men.
It is followed by the United States, which has about 74,000 centenarians, China (around 49,000), and India (38,000).
Considering the number of centenarians relative to population size, however, the US and China drop down the list and European countries such as France, Greece, and Italy rise closer to the top.
Japan remains exceptional, with 100 centenarians per 100,000 people, behind only Hong Kong, with a rate of 133.
“Japan is at the top of all lists,” Solveig Cunningham, a professor who leads health, ageing and longevity research at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, told Euronews Health.
That’s likely due to a combination of nutrition, exercise, and a healthy “living environment,” Cunningham said. But the real test would be to track the health of people who immigrated to Japan decades ago, and see if they fare as well as native Japanese people as they age.
What drives extreme longevity?
Extreme longevity has long puzzled scientists and captivated the public, spawning countless books, TV shows, headlines, and self-help guides.
One popular explanation is the theory of “blue zones,” or geographic regions where people live remarkably long lives due to a combination of healthy diets, active lifestyles, strong social relationships, and genetics.
But researchers have also raised questions about whether these “blue zones” are real, or simply a matter of flawed data.
One study made waves last year when it flagged two reasons why some countries appear to have so many centenarians: administrative errors with birth certificates, and fraud in pension and benefit systems.
Cunningham said there likely are some “data aberrations,” but they probably do not account for bigger picture trends, particularly because countries with the most centenarians also tend to have longer life expectancies overall.
“If we think these are places where people generally live longer, it's not surprising that a larger proportion will make it there,” she said.
Even countries with lower life expectancies could be home to a surprising number of centenarians.
“In places where you have pretty high mortality early in life, the people who survive are outstandingly strong,” Cunningham said.
It doesn’t appear that there’s a “magical concoction,” she added.
For now, there are still more questions than answers when it comes to extreme longevity, but demographers and health experts say the keys to ageing well are simple: regular exercise, healthy food, access to medical care, getting enough sleep, avoiding alcohol and tobacco, and managing stress.
“I don't know how much I personally would buy into [claims on the benefits of] fish oil and chocolate and a glass of wine,” Cunningham said.
