Extreme lifespan is expected to gradually increase to the end of the twenty-first century

Jul, 2021 - By SMI

A new study assesses the likelihood of living to be 110 years old, which, while exceptional, is expected to rise this century.

For decades, the number of people living to be 100 has been increasing, reaching about half a million people globally. There are much fewer "supercentenarians," persons who live to be 110 years old or beyond. Jeanne Calment of France was the world's oldest living person when the person died at the age of 122; the current world's oldest person is 118-year-old from Japan.

According to new research from the Washington University, such extraordinary longevity will likely continue to climb slowly by the end of this century, with estimations ranging from 125 to 130 years. People are fascinated by humanity's extremes, whether it's travelling to the moon, running in the Olympics, or even living as long as possible. Researchers assess the likelihood that some individual will reach certain extreme ages this century with this work.

The new study, which was published in Demographic Research on June 30th, looks at the extremes of human life using statistical modelling. Experts have questioned the probable boundaries to what is mentioned to as the maximum reported age at death, given continuous study into ageing, the prospects of future medical and scientific discoveries, and the very limited number of people who have verifiably reached age 110 or beyond.

While some scientists say that disease and basic cell degeneration lead to a natural limit on human lifetime, others argue that there is no such limit, as proven by supercentenarians who have lived to be over 100 years old. According to the experts, the current world record of 122 years will almost likely be broken, with a significant chance that at least one person will live to be between 125 and 132 years old.

Supercentenarians are already outliers, and only a considerable increase in the number of supercentenarians raises the chances of breaking the current age record. That isn't implausible, according to academics, given the world's ever-increasing population.