Number of 100-year-olds in the UK to triple in a generation

In 2020, there was a record high number of centenarians in the UK.

The number had reached 15,120, an increase of almost a fifth from the previous year.

One key factor was the spike in births following the First World War, with thousands of people born in 1920 making it to 100.

And amid increasing life expectancy, official figures suggest the number of centenarians will triple from the current number by 2050.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has issued updated population projections for the UK, with 51,000 people expected to have reached the age of 100 by 2050.

Revealed: The number of over 75s who identify as LGB+

There are expected to be 20,000 centenarians in the UK by 2030, in seven years' time, and 29,000 by 2040.

Improvements in living standards and public health over the past century have in turn boosted the chances of people living longer.

This is a trend which will continue, with older people also set to make up a significantly greater proportion of the population by 2050 when compared with 2020.

Click the arrows below to see how the make-up of the population is expected to change

Read more: Hero plumber who went viral forced to stop helping those in need

Meanwhile, separate ONS estimates released in January last year suggested more than a quarter of British girls born in 20 years’ time will live to be at least 100 years old, as will one in five baby boys.

The projections estimated 13.6% of boys and 19% of girls born in the UK in 2020 are expected to live to at least 100. This is expected to increase to 20.9% of boys and 27% of girls born in 2045.

The data shows that in 2020 in the UK there were twice as many women aged 90 years or older than men.

This gap has narrowed over the last three decades and continued to narrow in 2020.

Angele Storey, of the ONS Centre for Ageing and Demography, said: "While growth in the population aged 90 years and over slowed in the year to mid-2020, most likely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, there was a large rise in the number of people aged 100 years and over.

“In fact, the number of centenarians grew by almost a fifth from the previous year. This was driven by people, born in the post-World War One birth spike, turning 100 years old.

“Improvements in living standards and public health over the last century improved the chances of those born at that time surviving to age 100.”