Skip to main content

Being very old in a young country: Centenarians and supercentenarians in Australia

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Supercentenarians

Part of the book series: Demographic Research Monographs ((DEMOGRAPHIC))

Abstract

This chapter will briey review the history of identification, recording, and documentation of centenarians and supercentenarians in Australia1. The paper explains the sources and validation methods used, as well as identifying problems and barriers to validation. The paper then critically comments on the completeness of reported supercentenarian numbers in Australia, using overseas estimates as a benchmark. This will include an evaluation of the accuracy of census and other historical data sources used to validate centenarians and supercentenarians in Australia. The paper concludes with comments on the possible future number of people age 100 years or more, and how Australia might institutionalize their identification and recording.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (1999a). Deaths Australia. Cat No 3302.0. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (1999b). Older people, Australia: A social report. Cat No 4109.0. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (2001). Year book Australia. Cat No 1301.0. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (2002). Census of population and housing Australia 2001. Cat No 2015.0. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, L. (2003). Supercentenarian list, le@main.put.com. Supercentenarian Interest Group. www.grg.org.

  • Jeune, B. and Vaupel, J.W. (1999). Species of evidence of exceptional longevity, chapter Jeune, B. and Vaupel, J.W. (Eds.): Validation of exceptional longevity. Odense Monographs on Population Aging, Vol. 6. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kannisto, V. (1994). Development of oldest-old mortality, 1950-1990, monographs on Population Aging 1. Odense University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCormack, J. (2000). Hitting a century: Centenarians in Australia. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 19(2):64–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan (2003). Quoted in www.japantimes. co.jp. Japan Times Online, accessed 10 Sept 2003.

  • Ruisdael, C. (2003). Centenarian survey. celvin@c2i.net. Supercentenarian Interest Group, www.grg.org.

  • Thatcher, D. (1999). The demography of centenarians in England and Wales. Office of National Statistics, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yi, Z. and Vaupel, J. (2003). Oldest-old mortality in China. Demographic Research, 8(7). www.demographic-research.org.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John McCormack .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

McCormack, J. (2010). Being very old in a young country: Centenarians and supercentenarians in Australia. In: Maier, H., Gampe, J., Jeune, B., Robine, JM., Vaupel, J. (eds) Supercentenarians. Demographic Research Monographs. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11520-2_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics