Estimates of the very old, including centenarians, UK – 2002 to 2018

This Office for National Statistics release contains population estimates by sex and single year of age for people aged 90 to 104 and for the 105+ age group.

They have also published the latest UK National Life Tables providing life expectancies from age 0 to age 100.

Main points

• In 2018, there was an increase of 0.7% in the number of people aged 90 years and over, from 579,776 in 2017 to 584,024 in 2018.
• An increase of 2.8% in the number of men aged 90 years and over from 2017 drove the overall increase seen in 2018.

Vasita Patel, Centre for Ageing and Demography, Office for National Statistics said:

“The size of the population aged 90 years and over in the UK continued to grow in 2018 – driven by an increase in the number of men at these ages. The rise in the number of men has almost halved the gap between males and females in this age group compared with 25 years ago. However, we have seen a decrease in the number of people aged 100 years and over. This is because of the low number of births in the UK during World War One."