Number of Scottish centenarians at near-record level, new figures show

The number of centenarians living in Scotland is at a near-record level, newly-released records from National Records of Scotland show.

According to newly-released figures, there were 900 centenarians living in Scotland in 2017, an increase of 45 percent from the estimate of 620 in 2007, and over five times as many as when records began in 1981. The largest estimate for centenarians in Scotland was in 2016, when there were 920 centenarians.

Number of male and female centenarians

There are many more women who live for over 100 years than men, reflecting the longer life expectancy of females. In 2017, there were 770 female centenarians (86 percent of all centenarians) compared with 130 men.

However, the male centenarian population has increased by 44 percent over the past decade (from 90 in 2007 to 130 in 2017), while the female population had a similar growth rate of 45 per cent (from 530 in 2007 to 770 in 2017).

Since 2007, the number of centenarians relative to the total population has increased from 1.2 to 1.7 centenarians for every 10,000 people in Scotland in 2017.

An ageing population

The number of people aged 90 to 99 increased from 29,230 in 2007 to 40,830 in 2017, an increase of 40 per cent.

The number of men aged 90 to 99 increased from 6,910 to 12,260 between 2007 and 2017, an increase of 77 per cent. The number of females aged 90 to 99 increased from 22,320 to 28,570 during the same period, an increase of 28 per cent.

Centenarians make up a larger proportion of the population at UK level (2.2 per 10,000 population) than in Scotland (1.7 per 10,000 population). Between 2007 and 2017 the percentage increase in the number of centenarians in Scotland (45 percent) was similar to that in the UK as a whole (44 percent).

Read the full report on the NRS website.

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(infographic courtesy of National Records of Scotland, image copyright Connor Cunningham)