Boomers Built to Last 100 Years Professor David J. Demko, PhD, Gerontologist AgeVenture News Service 08-05-06 Seems like America turned gray virtually over night. Doubtful? Don't be. Today, there are 70,000 living, breathing (albeit intermittently), socially active centenarians. By the way, a centenarian is a person aged 100 years or older. The number of centenarians in the U.S. is growing rapidly, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. During the 1990's, the ranks of centenarians nearly doubled in just one decade. Analysts at the Census estimate that this population of centenarians could range in size from 265,000 to 4.2 million people by mid next century. The middle-range projection is 834,000 by year 2050. This longevity trend makes you wonder. Will you live to a ripe old age? Do you really want to live that long? Thought-provoking questions. The way I see it, boomers react to their chronological age in four stages. Stage One is childhood, where kids often exaggerate their age by saying "I think I AM old enough" to do so and so. Stage Two is middle age, where adults, in Jack Benny-style, keep turning age 39 over and over again. Make-up helps tremendously at this age. Whenever, someone asks your age, just make-up a number (usually younger, so the boss thinks you're still too young to throw out into the retirement pasture). The first and second stage might also be called the "Virtual Age" stages because you can be virtually any "age" you want it to be. The next stages, three and four, might be called "Reality and Beyond". Read on, and see if you agree. Stage Three is best described by this statement, "REALLY, I get a 10% discount if I'm a senior citizen?". This is an act of acceptance, or embracing one's REAL age. Stage Four is the BEYOND Stage or "Guess how old I am". Here the person has lived soooooo long, it's an accomplishment. They are so darned proud of outliving their enemies that they exaggerate their age well BEYOND reality. 80 year olds become 90. 90 year olds become "instant centenarians" ! "The growing numbers of extremely old people gives us the opportunity to examine their lives in detail. By doing so, we will be able to discover the genetic, medical, social, and behavioral factors contributing to longevity and robustness in very advanced age", reported Richard M. Suzman, PhD and Associate Director of the National Institute on Aging for Behavioral and Social Research in the Census publication "Centenarians in the United States." And the trend in identifying longevity traits continues at a fierce pace today. Just GOOGLE the key words "live 100 years" and you'll discover just how obsessed we are about life-extension. Makes you wonder, "do we want to live 100 years, or are we just so afraid of dying that we try to postpone death at any cost?" While these long-lived elders are a diverse group of Americans, they do share many characteristics that scientists believe help them live to 100 years and beyond. Of course, you'll want to know what these characteristics are. So check out the list below for a description of characteristics shared by centenarians. Longevity Favors Females Four out of every five centenarians are women. And, this gender advantage is expected to continue. All Colors and Cultures Approximately 78 percent of today's centenarians are European-Americans (EA). However, scientists project some fascinating trends through the year 2050. For example, while EA centenarians will decrease from 78% to 55%, minority representation will increase. Hispanic-American centenarians will increase from 5 to 20 percent. Asian and Pacific Islander Americans will grow from 3 to 11 percent. African-Americans are expected to remain constant at 13 percent. Learn a Lot - Live a Lot Since experts believe that educational attainment is a major factor in determining life-expectancy, expect more educated centenarians. I'm not sure but I think that the positive relationship between education and living longer may be due to the fact that when you are sitting in school educating yourself, it is impossible to also be home watching the "Jerry Springer" TV show (a behavior indicative of terminal ignorance .. a longevity no-no). Location - Location - Location Right now, 10 percent of all centenarians live in California. Another 8 percent live in New York. and we definitely know they won't leave because everybody "loves New York". There are, however, high concentrations of centenarians in the states of Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota. So, what will America look like in the new century? One thing is for sure, there will be lots of older people, and plenty more centenarians. That's progress. Read more longevity news: Are You a ZOOMER: An Awesomely Ageless Boomer Is Longevity for Losers? Will You Live to be 100: the Life-expectancy calculator BACK TO TOP Copyright © 1974-2008, David J. Demko, AgeVenture News Service. All rights reserved. Copyright Terms and Restrictions