Forum Topic

100 years old

A table of 5 table revealed they had been spending the afternoon celebrating a birthday with their mother. ''Im 81'' said one diner ''and my mother is 100 today''.I find that staggering and wonderful that you could reach your eighties and still have your mother around. My mother died from breast cancer when I was 11 and have always had a twinge of jealousy when friends chat about their mothers. Do any forum members have parents that have reached such a milestone?

David P Archer ● 4761d4 Comments

My father-in-law lived to be 100 and died in 2010. He lived independently and was in reasonable health till the last 18 months. I know that he was more than ready to go by the end. Don't actually fancy it myself. Mid 80s will do me.

Susan Kelly ● 4761d

Get ready for it David as over '80s is the fastest growing group in UK society even though still small relatively, as we all live longer on average though centenarians are still smallest part of it despite multiples in growth since 2000. The expectation is the average age of death for men born in 1950 will move out to be 90 years and interestingly the gap between men and women ages at death is narrowing.

Joe Conneely ● 4761d

I think the gap is narrowing partly because men aren't doing such dangerous jobs anymore and aren't getting killed in droves in wars or dying of war related injuries in the same numbers that they used to. There are 9000 + 100 year olds in Britain I think.

Keith Iddon ● 4761d

Almost certainly true Keith, in going forward across this century post the World Wars and UK decline as an industrial economy. Plus other contributors to the growing numbers of people hitting their personal century in the next decades (estimated at 160,000 by 2041 per a recent BBC report)  are the post WW1 "baby boom" plus we are living longer because of the drugs and healthcare now available.My own mother has just turned 90 which easily makes her the oldest living person in our family's known history in reflecting the above trend. Her operations for both hips to be replaced and potential cancer treatment at an early stage years ago, have all contributed to this state of affairs. The big challenge for our society is making sure more of us arrive at retirement in a healthier and mentally alert state and keep that up as we age, and so reduce the financial drag of an ageing population.

Joe Conneely ● 4760d