Figures show 88% of the centenarians are women as the population continues to age and shrink.
  • Hanrahan@slrpnk.netEnglish
    38·
    2 months ago

    or many ate likely lying

    https://fortune.com/europe/2024/12/14/are-blue-zones-myth-extreme-aging-pension-fraud-century-old-lies/

    But Saul Justin Newman, a researcher at University College London’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies, told AFP that most extreme old age data “is junk to a really shocking degree”.

    Newman’s research, which is currently being peer-reviewed, looked at data about centenarians and supercentenarians — people who live to 100 and 110 — in the United States, Italy, England, France and Japan.

    Contrary to what one might expect, he found that supercentenarians tended to come from areas with poor health, high levels of poverty—and bad record-keeping.

    The true secret to extreme longevity seems to be to “move where birth certificates are rare, teach your kids pension fraud and start lying”,

    • raman_klogius@ani.socialEnglish
      121·
      2 months ago

      Not to mention in Japan many next of kin of centenarians are hiding their deaths from government officials to continue receiving government benefits. Government officials don’t have the power or will to force themselves into homes to check if those people are actually still alive, if their supposed guardians become aggressive at the mention of physical welfare checks.

      • farmgineer@nord.pubEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        I have a feeling that a desired side effect of the My Number card is helping to find stuff like this. Insurance is now basically required to be the MyNa card which is a photo ID. Also more easily tracks its usage. If people are quite old and not getting medical care or their cards renewed…

    • Zarobi@aussie.zoneEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Yeah, I highly doubt there’s 100k actual 100 year olds in the entire world. There’s only 6k in the whole of Australia, and we have pretty strict record keeping and pension systems (for better or worse). Statistics only matter if you trust the numbers, and people have been exaggerating their age for millennia.