Love Me Love My Phages

By Becky Barrow

Last updated at 8:11 AM on 31st December 2010

One in six people in Britain will live to celebrate their 100th birthday, official figures reveal today.

More than 10million of the current population will receive a royal telegram, with many even surviving until 110.

Improved diets, living conditions and medical technology are driving the dramatic demographic transformation.

People of all ages, whose grandparents may have died in their 60s and so barely knew them, are increasingly likely to live until they reach the milestone.

The figures – from the Department for Work and Pensions – show that 17 per cent of the population will see their 100th birthday, equal to about 10.6million people.

Of these, around three million are currently under 16. Around 5.5million are between 16 and 50, and around 1.3million are between 51 and 65.

There are also about 875,000 who have already celebrated their 65th birthday and can expect to live for at least another 35 years.

Last year there were just 11,600 people aged 100 or above, a figure which itself was more than four times that recorded 30 years before.

Even over the past two years the ranks of centenarians have swelled by nearly 25 per cent.

w statistics reveal that more than 10million of the current population will reach the age of 100 and receive a royal telegram

And when the current generation of centenarians was being born in the years before the First World War, only 100 people were thought to have reached their century.

The astonishing increase in longevity raises worrying questions about how the State will cope in supporting so many old people. And there will be concerns about how many will be able to afford a decent standard of living for such a long retirement.

It raises the prospect of millions surviving until their 100th birthday with a very poor quality of life due to poor health.

Last month the Office for Budget Responsibility warned spending on old people is ‘unsustainable’.

At present, about 22.5 per cent of Britain’s economic output goes on ‘aged-related expenditure’ such as pensions and the NHS.

This is expected to reach a crippling 27.1 per cent by 2050.

The Government has already revealed plans to raise the pension age for men and women to 66 and scrap rules which allow bosses to force workers out when they reach 65.

But the age is likely to keep on going up in an attempt to cut the massive cost of paying the state pension, currently £97.65 per week.

Fewer than a third of private sector workers have a company pension. Millions

of older people have no pension, no savings, no other investments and no plan about how they are going to pay for their retirement other than to carry on working.

To make matters worse, many have not paid off the mortgage on their property, or are renting at a time when tenants are paying record sums.

Steve Webb, pensions minister, said: ‘These staggering figures really bring home how important it is to plan ahead for our later lives.

‘Many millions of us will be spending around a third of our lives or more in retirement.’

Over the last 50 years life expectancy has been transformed by the availability of better medicine on the NHS.

Experts say modern treatments such as statins, which lower blood cholesterol, and blood pressure drugs are helping to prevent fatal conditions and increase lifespan.

Better education and greater awareness of diet have helped many stay healthier. And the decline of jobs requiring heavy and risky manual work has also played a part.

By 2066, there will be around 7,700 ‘super-centenarians’ – those who have reached at least 110.

A baby girl born in 1981 could typically expect to live until she was 76, and one born today can expect to live until she is 82. But one born in 2020 will have an average life expectancy of nearly 85, and by 2058 it will be nearly 90.

The DWP said its ‘Centenarian Clerk’, who works with Buckingham Palace to ensure that everyone who reaches 100 receives a birthday card from the Queen, will be ‘very busy’.

Dr Ros Altmann, director general of The Saga Group, the old age specialists, said: ‘Many people face decades of struggling to survive with inadequate incomes.

‘Savings rates, investment returns and annuity rates have fallen sharply, meaning lower pensions all round.’

A report this month showed that although life expectancy is rising, people are not necessarily healthier during the ‘extra time’ they have gained.

Data from the UK and the U.S. showed at least one extra year is spent immobile or in poor health, compared with ten to 30 years ago.

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