Living to 100 is no longer rare in the UK – and it changes your retirement maths
Key Points
- ONS estimates 16,600 UK centenarians in 2024, double the 8,300 in 2004
- Male centenarians trebled over 20 years, from 910 to 3,100; women almost doubled to 13,600
- Wales has the UK's highest centenarian rate at 25.9 per 100,000
- Period life tables understate the odds of reaching 100 against cohort tables: 3.1% versus 11.7% for a woman aged 30 in 2024
- State pension age is rising from 66 to 67 between April 2026 and April 2028, with a further rise to 68 legislated for 2044 to 2046
The Office for National Statistics estimates 16,600 people aged 100 or over lived in the UK in 2024, double the 8,300 recorded in 2004.
Men account for a fast-growing share of that group. The number of male centenarians trebled between 2004 and 2024, from 910 to 3,100, while the number of women almost doubled from 7,400 to 13,600. Men made up 18.5% of centenarians in 2024, up from 11.0% two decades earlier. Wales records the highest rate of any UK country, at 25.9 centenarians per 100,000 people.
The wider very old population has grown alongside it. The number of people aged 90 or over climbed 53.7% between 2004 and 2024, from 407,000 to 625,000, and rose 2.2% in the single year to mid-2024.
What the life tables show
ONS national life tables put life expectancy at 65 at 21.2 years for women and 18.7 years for men across 2022 to 2024, up from 20.8 years and 18.3 years in the 2019 to 2021 period. Those are period figures, which hold current death rates constant and make no allowance for future improvements in mortality. Cohort figures, which build those improvements in, run higher.
The difference is substantial at the top end of the age range. An ONS worked example gives a woman aged 30 in 2024 a 3.1% chance of reaching 100 on the period basis, against 11.7% on the cohort basis. Cohort life expectancy at birth is projected to reach 92.4 years for girls and 89.6 years for boys born in 2049.
The state pension age is moving too
The state pension age started rising from 66 in April 2026 and reaches 67 in April 2028, a timetable the Pensions Act 2014 set.
People born between 6 April 1960 and 5 March 1961 reach state pension age at 66 years plus a specified number of months rather than on a single date. A further rise to 68 sits in legislation for 2044 to 2046, and remains under review.
The Work and Pensions Committee has reported that the increases land unevenly, falling hardest on people in the most deprived areas, where life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are lower. It found 57% of people are no longer in paid work in the year before reaching state pension age.
