Why is the number of centenarians increasing?

Mondo Social Updated on 2024-03-05

According to the United Nations Population Division**, by the end of 2021, the number of centenarians worldwide had exceeded 621,000. It is estimated that by 2030, the number of people aged 100 and over may exceed the million mark.

In 1990, there were only 92,000 centenarians worldwide. Even at the time, it was an extraordinary achievement.

Due to the development and improvement of many fields such as medicine, food and living environment, the life expectancy of modern people has been significantly improved compared with ancient people. For example, a person born in the early 1960s, the date the United Nations began compiling global data, had a life expectancy of about 52 years.

It can be seen that reaching the age of 100 is not an easy task. According to the United Nations, the proportion of centenarians in the global population is just over 0008%。

Given that the average life expectancy is 73 years old, most people may not be able to celebrate their platinum birthday (75).

However, it is important to note that the average life expectancy in Japan is as high as 85 years, while in the Central African Republic it is only 54 years.

In addition, many people who enter old age may face various chronic diseases.

Rhodes, a professor of cell biology at the University of Birmingham in the UK, pointed out that "longevity does not necessarily mean health". He said that the last 16 years of men's life are often devastated by diseases ranging from diabetes to dementia; And women have to pay for 19 years of pain for this moment.

In 2010, researchers found that only 60-70 people had reached the state of "supercentenarians", but by 2017 the group had grown to 150.

The phenomenon of "super-human" has attracted the keen attention of many scientists studying human aging.

"They seem to be able to protect against diseases that are common to most older people, but we don't have a clear answer to that," Rhodes stressed. ”

In addition to its long lifespan, Superhuman has also demonstrated extraordinary abilities in maintaining good health. For example, 76-year-old Fa Josepha Maria, despite her memory and weakened eyesight, according to her daughter Cicela, she still consumes red meat and desserts without frequent medication. Admittedly, Cicela also confessed that her mother sometimes even baffled her.

In an interview, Cicela said, "Her mobility has been greatly reduced. Nowadays they can only rely on us like babies, changing diapers and so on. It's incredible! My mother has been a smoker since she was a child and has been doing manual labor for most of her life, but she was able to hold on for so long. ”

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