Supercentenarian

A supercentenarian (sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian) is someone who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in a thousand centenarians.^{[citation needed]}

There are estimated to be 300 – 450 living supercentenarians in the world, though only about 80 individual verified living supercentenarians are known.^[1] A study conducted in 2010 showed that the countries with most supercentenarians were United States,United Kingdom,Japan,France and Italy.^[2]

The first verified supercentenarians in human history died in the late 19th century. Until the 1980s, the maximal age to be attained by supercentenarians was 114, but this has now been surpassed. To date, there are 7 undisputed cases of people who have lived to 116 years of age or older. The oldest verified person ever is Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years 164 days.

Etymology

The term "supercentenarian" has been in existence at least since the 1970s (Norris McWhirter, editor of the Guinness World Records, used the word in correspondence with age claims researcher A. Ross Eckler, Jr. in 1976), and was further popularised in 1991 by William Strauss and Neil Howe in their book entitled Generations. Early references tend to mean simply "someone well over 100", but the 110-and-over cutoff is the accepted criterion of demographers.^{[citation needed]} In the 19th century, the term ultracentenarian was used to describe someone well over 100, the cutoff being age 110 or 108.^{[citation needed]}

History

While claims of extreme age have persisted from the earliest times in history, the earliest supercentenarian accepted by Guinness World Records is Dutchman Thomas Peters (reportedly 1745-1857). Scholars such as French demographer Jean-Marie Robine, however, consider Geert Adriaans Boomgaard, also of the Netherlands, who turned 110 in 1898, to be the first verifiable case, as the alleged evidence for Peters has been 'lost'. In 1902 Margaret Ann Neve became the first female supercentenarian.

If the case of Peters is discounted then the first documented 111th birthdays were celebrated in New York State in 1926, first by Louisa Thiers, and then Delina Filkins of Herkimer County. Delina Filkins later became the first person to reach 112, as well as 113. The Guinness World Records accepted the claim of Martha Graham as the first ever 114-year-old. The Social Security Administration recognizes Mathew Beard as having attained the same age in 1984, but the earliest fully validated case is that of Anna Eliza Williams in 1987. However, the Gerontology Research Group has found a possible 115-year-old Augusta Holtz, who was born 3 August 1871 and turned 115 in 1986. Strong evidence has been found and the process of verification is in progress. She is reported to have died on 21 October 1986 at 115 years, 79 days.

Carrie C. White had been recognised by Guinness World Records to have reached the age of 115 and 116. Because the claim is insecure, scholars^[who?] believe it is possible that this extreme age may be milestones first achieved by Jeanne Calment. Calment was also the first undisputed person to reach the ages of 117 to 122. She died aged 122 years 164 days - the longest lifespan documented beyond reasonable doubt. The next oldest person whose age is documented beyond reasonable doubt was Sarah Knauss, who died in 1999 at the age of 119 years 97 days. The oldest undisputed man was Christian Mortensen, who died aged 115 years 252 days in 1998.

The most verified people 115 or over living at the same time is four or possibly five (since the case of Anţica Butariu is disputed), this has happened thrice:

• From 17 June 1997 to 4 August 1997 Jeanne Calment, Marie-Louise Meilleur, Sarah Knauss, Maggie Barnes and Anţica Butariu were all living at the age 115 or more.
• From 16 August 1997 to 21 November 1997 Marie-Louise Meilleur, Sarah Knauss, Maggie Barnes, Anţica Butariu and Christian Mortensen were all living at the age of 115 or more.
• From 21 August 2006 to 27 August 2006 Maria Capovilla, Elizabeth Bolden, Bettie Wilson, Susie Gibson and Emiliano Mercado del Toro were all living at the age of 115 or more.

The longest period of time were there have been no living supercentenarian in the world (since the first verifiable case in the late 19th century) occurred between 14 October 1932, when Katherine Plunket died, and 20 August 1952, when Betsy Baker turned 110 - a period of nearly 20 years.

The first supercentenarian who lived in three different centuries was the first ever female supercentenarian, Margaret Ann Neve (1792-1903). Neve was in fact the only supercentenarian born in the 18th century that lived into the 20th century. This is contrasted to the hundreds of verified supercentenarians that have lived from the 19th century into the 21st century.

Over 2,500 supercentenarians have been documented in history.^[3] It is likely that more have lived, but the majority of claims to have lived to this age do not have sufficient documentary support to be validated. This is slowly changing as those born after birth registration was standardized in more countries and parts of countries attain supercentenarian age.

Verified supercentenarians over 115-year-old

      Deceased       Living       Age disputed

Rank	Name	Sex	Birth date	Death date	Age	Country
1	Jeanne Calment	F	21 February 1875	4 August 1997	122 years, 164 days	France
2	Sarah Knauss	F	24 September 1880	30 December 1999	119 years, 97 days	United States
3	Lucy Hannah	F	16 July 1875	21 March 1993	117 years, 248 days	United States
4	Marie-Louise Meilleur	F	29 August 1880	16 April 1998	117 years, 230 days	Canada
5	María Capovilla	F	14 September 1889	27 August 2006	116 years, 347 days	Ecuador
6	Tane Ikai	F	18 January 1879	12 July 1995	116 years, 175 days	Japan
7	Elizabeth Bolden	F	15 August 1890	11 December 2006	116 years, 118 days	United States
8	Carrie C. White	F	18 November 1874	14 February 1991	116 years, 88 days	United States
9	Kamato Hongo	F	16 September 1887	31 October 2003	116 years, 45 days	Japan
10	Maggie Barnes	F	6 March 1882	19 January 1998	115 years, 319 days	United States
11	Christian Mortensen	M	16 August 1882	25 April 1998	115 years, 252 days	born Denmark died in the United States
12	Charlotte Hughes	F	1 August 1877	17 March 1993	115 years, 228 days	United Kingdom
13	Edna Parker	F	20 April 1893	26 November 2008	115 years, 220 days	United States
14	Margaret Skeete	F	27 October 1878	7 May 1994	115 years, 192 days	United States
15	Gertrude Baines	F	6 April 1894	11 September 2009	115 years, 158 days	United States
16	Aniţica Butariu	F	17 June 1882	21 November 1997	115 years, 157 days	Romania
17	Emiliano Mercado del Toro	M	21 August 1891	24 January 2007	115 years, 156 days	Puerto Rico
18	Bettie Wilson	F	13 September 1890	13 February 2006	115 years, 153 days	United States
19	Julie Winnefred Bertrand	F	16 September 1891	18 January 2007	115 years, 124 days	Canada
20	Maria de Jesus	F	10 September 1893	2 January 2009	115 years, 114 days	Portugal
21	Susie Gibson	F	31 October 1890	16 February 2006	115 years, 108 days	United States
22	Besse Cooper	F	26 August 1896	Living	&10000000000000115000000115 years, &1000000000000007800000078 days	Living in the United States
23	Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper	F	29 June 1890	30 August 2005	115 years, 62 days	Netherlands
24	Maude Farris-Luse	F	21 January 1887	18 March 2002	115 years, 56 days	United States
25	Marie Brémont	F	25 April 1886	6 June 2001	115 years, 42 days	France
26	Annie Jennings	F	12 November 1884	20 November 1999	115 years, 8 days	United Kingdom

References

1. ^ Validated living supercentenarians
2. ^ The 2010 study of countries with most supercentenarians
3. ^ See list in

External links

• Gerontology Research Group
• International Database on Longevity
• Supercentenarian Research Foundation
• New England Supercentenarian Study