Annual mid-year population estimates for those aged 90 years and over by sex and single year of age (90 to 104 years), and the 105 years and over age group, UK.

In 2023, there were approximately 14,850 centenarians living in England and Wales, compared with 14,920 in the previous year.

Estimates of those aged 90 and over (including centenarians) by gender, single year of age (90-104) and by age groups (90-99), 100+ and 105+ for the UK, England and Wales (as a whole), Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Estimates of the Very elderly; 90+ estimates

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 100 years and over living with others in a private household in England and Wales by relationship. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

There were an estimated 960 centenarians (people aged 100 and over) in Scotland in mid-2020. This is a 13% increase over mid-2019, and is the highest ever figure. This reflects the increase of births which occurred in Scotland at the end of World War One. The majority of centenarians are female. In mid-2020, there were 4 times as many female centenarians as males. There were 770 females compared to 190 males. This disparity can be explained by the difference in life expectancy for males and females. Over the past decade to mid-2020, the number of male centenarians has grown at a faster rate than female centenarians. For the 90 and over age group, numbers of males have increased by almost 70% since mid-2010, while the females have grown by just under 24%. In mid-2020, there were an estimated 43,750 people aged 90 and over in Scotland. The number of people in this age group has increased every year since mid-2010 when there were 32,440 people aged 90 and over.

Population of the very elderly (including centenarians) by gender, single year of age (90 to 104) and by age groups (90-99, 100+ and 105+) for England & Wales. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: Experimental Official Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Population Estimates of the very elderly (experimental)

The study used an ethnographic methodological approach, drawing on a number of methods, including 'go-along' tours of the participant's kitchen and accompanied trips to places where food was acquired, eg supermarkets, allotments and lunch clubs. The ways that vulnerability linked to the food system might operate for different groups of older people is not straightforward but a framework for assessing different domains of vulnerability - exposure, threats, coping capacities and outcomes is proposed. Trust is thought to be an integral part of relationship building between actors in the food system and consumers are increasingly being viewed as having an active role in the trust relationship. It is unclear whether and how civil society actors within the food system undertake to build and market trust or whether the mechanisms by which trust operates or is perceived by consumers is different when the commercial sector is not involved. Assessing older people's own views on trust and their experience of different actors at the point that food is acquired is therefore important.

Like the rest of the developing world the UK is experiencing demographic change. There are currently 10.8 million people aged 65 or over in the UK and over 1.4 million are aged 85 or over. The numbers of centenarians has nearly quadrupled since 1981, from 2,600 to over 12,000 in 2010. The number of people aged 60+ is expected to be more than 20 million in the UK by 2031 and the number of individuals aged over 85 years is predicted to double in the next 20 years and nearly treble in the next 30 (Age UK 2013). A significant minority of older people have ongoing health conditions and for those aged over 85 up to two thirds has a disability or limiting long term illness. Two thirds of NHS clients are aged 65 and over (Philip 2007). Such statistics and demographic shifts highlight that addressing when, how and why older people might become vulnerable through the food that they eat should be a research priority in terms of impact on the UK food system, quality of life for individuals, better public health outcomes, reducing the burden of disease and disability not to mention the resultant economic benefits for the UK. Whilst food security and the UK food system itself are relatively secure, the potential for older people to become vulnerable could be strengthened, weakened or influenced by a number of external factors, though no research has explored such factors broadly in relation to the older population. Older people might disproportionately acquire food from different parts of the food supply chain and civil society compared with other groups of the population as they are perhaps more likely to encounter food delivery services marketed directly at them and the health professionals who care for them and through social enterprises serving food, such as 'meals on wheels' and Age UK lunch clubs. We have reviewed the datasets available via the UK Data Service and found none matches the study objectives. New data will therefore be collected and a qualitative approach used. In the first phase of the study the research team will use interviews, photography/photo-elicitation, video observation and other techniques designed to engage participants including the use of diaries with 25 households drawing on a broadly ethnographic approach to investigate the food acquisition practices and perceptions of trust of a range of household types incorporating individuals aged 60+ years. These findings will inform 4-6 focus groups with older people (Phase Two). Finally, a consensus event with stakeholders from across the UK food system will be organised to debate and critique the findings from the first two phases (Phase Three). To maximise public engagement, and ability of a lay audience to more fully participate in the study, we will develop an interactive exhibition. Members of the public, through the Public Involvement in Research group, will be a key part of the approach taken throughout the research.

Obesity is a major health burden. Adipogenesis, the proliferation and differentiation of pree-adipocytes in mature adipocytes, could be a potential therapeutic approach for obesity. Deficiency of SIRT6, a member of the sirtuin family of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)+-dependent protein deacetylases, blocks adipogenesis. New allelic variants of SIRT6 (N308K/A313S) were recently associated with the longevity in Ashkenazi Jews. In this study, we aimed to clarify how these new centenarian-associated SIRT6 genetic variants affect adipogenesis at the transcriptional and epigenetic level. Overexpression of centenarian-associated SIRT6 mutant increased adipogenic differentiation to a similar extent compared to the WT form. However, it triggered distinct histone PTM profiles in mature adipocytes, with significantly higher acetylation levels, and activated divergent transcriptional programs, including those dependent on signaling related to the sympathetic innervation and to PI3K pathway. 3T3-L1 mature adipocytes overexpressing SIRT6 N308K/A313S displayed increased insulin sensitivity in a neuropeptide Y (NPY)-dependent manner.