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How long will you live? Use our tool to find out
Whether you’re a retiree, a mid-lifer or literally born yesterday, these are your chances of becoming a centenarian according to new data
A hundred years ago, there were just 150 centenarians living across England and Wales.
However, revolutions in healthcare, lifestyle habits and medicine means that now there is a near one-in-five chance that a girl (or one-in-10 for a boy) born today will live to 100.
That would mean upwards of 70,000 centenarians by 2125, based on last year’s birth stats.
Statisticians from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have modelled the likelihood of individuals alive today reaching 100, as well as other key milestones. Use our tool to find out your chances.
According to the data, the life expectancy of children born today will far exceed that of their parents.
For example, a woman born in 1965 is expected to live to 87 years old. They have just a 6.2 per cent chance of reaching 100. Their daughter, born around 1995, could expect on average to live to 88, but their chances of reaching 100 double to 11.3 per cent.
Their granddaughter, born this year, would expect to reach at least 90. They have a one-in-four chance of reaching 99 years old and a 18.5 per cent chance of reaching 100. This effectively means they have tripled their likelihood of hitting that age.
The ONS also projects forward: for that same woman’s great-granddaughter, perhaps born in 2055, the ONS estimates that there is a 27 per cent chance they could live to 100.
The statistics show that women are more likely to hit all major age milestones, including the centenarian.
Life expectancy, however, is not just defined by when someone was born, but where they were born too.
The Telegraph’s Healthy Life Calculator shows that life expectancy for men in Cheshire East is 80, while just 50 miles away is 73. This is a result of a number of key health indicators in these areas, including poverty, smoking rates and obesity levels.
And while life expectancy is defined by the number of years one lives, the healthy life expectancy is the number of years someone will live comfortably.
Across England, a man born today could expect to live just 63 years in “good health” – roughly 80 per cent of their total life expectancy. For women, it is 64 years in good health – around 77 per cent of their total expectancy.