National Records of Scotland

Centenarians in Scotland 2009 to 2019

Last update: 24 September 2020

Report
(PDF 901 KB)

Data and Charts

(24 September 2020)

(PDF 550 KB)

Metadata
(PDF 121 KB)

Key Findings

There were an estimated 820 centenarians (people aged 100 and over) in Scotland in mid-2019. This is a 5% increase over the past year, after four years of decline. This corresponds to an increase of births which occurred in Scotland at the end of World War One.
The majority of centenarians are female. In mid-2019, there were over 4 times as many female centenarians as males. There were 670 females compared to 150 males. This disparity can be explained by the difference in life expectancy for males and females.
Over the past decade to mid-2019, the number of male centenarians have grown at a faster rate than female centenarians.
Scotland has had the lowest proportion of centenarians in the UK since mid-2017. Most recently in mid-2019, there were 1.5 centenarians per 10,000 people. In comparison, Wales had the highest proportion (2.3 per 10,000), followed by England (2.0 per 10,000) and Northern Ireland (1.7 per 10,000).
In mid-2019, there were an estimated 43,660 people aged 90 and over in Scotland. The number of people in this age group has increased every year since mid-2009, however the rate of growth has slowed in recent years.
Scotland had the second lowest proportion (80 per 10,000) of people aged 90 and over in the UK in mid-2019. Northern Ireland had the lowest proportion (73 per 10,000), and Wales had the highest (99 per 10,000).

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