Record Number of Centenarians in Scotland

30 June 2009

The number of people living for more than a century has reached a record high. New figures from the Registrar General estimate that there were 720 centenarians living in Scotland in 2008. 

Duncan Macniven, Registrar General for Scotland, said:

“The number of centenarians rose from 570 in 2002 to 720 in 2008, an increase of more than a quarter. This is one example of the ageing of Scotland’s population. Almost 9 out of every 10 centenarians are women but the proportion of men is slowly increasing”

A hundred years ago, Scottish centenarians were extremely rare. However, by the start of the 21st century, there were estimated to be more than 500 people in Scotland who were 100 years old or more – and the number has been rising steadily ever since. However, while the number of centenarians is increasing, the number of people aged 90-99 decreased for the second year in a row. This was because fewer babies were born during the First World War.  

The overwhelming majority of centenarians were women. In 2008, women accounted for 630 of Scotland’s centenarians (almost 90%) while only around 90 men had reached the milestone. Three quarters of people in their 90s are women. The number of centenarians relative to the rest of the population has increased since 2002, especially over the last few years. But there is still only just over one centenarian for every 10,000 people.

The full report, Centenarians in Scotland, 2002-2008, is available on this website.

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