People beating life expectancy as more hit 100

The number of people in England and Wales living to beyond 100 is increasing and there is no upper age limit in sight, a report has found.

By The Newsroom

Published 19th Dec 2012, 06:00 BST

Most people are surviving for six years beyond life expectancy projections, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

A baby boy born in 2010 is expected to live until the age of 79, while a girl should live to 83.

But in analysing the age at which death is most common, the ONS has found most men are living until they are 85, and women to 89.

There is also a rise in the number of centenarians and even super-centenarians – those living to 110.

Previous studies have suggested that lifespans would not increase as people reach an upper limit to lifespan, but the statistics prove otherwise.

Over the last 50 years, from 1960 to 2010, the average life span  has increased by around 10 years for a man and eight years for a woman. In 1980 just over one per cent of the population was aged 85 or over, a figure which had doubled by 2010.