80% of the 53,364 people age 100 and older are women, according to the 2010 Census. Is it because women can deal with age-related diseases better than men, as some studies suggest? Maybe not, because men who do survive to 100 function better than women; the Census found that men were more likely to be living with others in a household (43.5%) while women were more likely to be living in a nursing home (35.2%).
But isn't that probably because the women in nursing homes are husband-less (and therefore have one less family member to take care of/support them), while the men still have their wives around?
Anyway, this is bad news for the more anxious among us who already worry about outliving their loved ones, but great news for those who aren't such neurotic pessimists.
More fun facts about centenarians, care of USA Today:
• The population 100 and older made up a small proportion of the total U.S. population, representing less than 2 per 10,000 people.
• More than half (62.5%) of centenarians were age 100 or 101.
• Those who make it to become supercentenarians (ages 110 and older) make up 0.6% of the centenarian population.
• …centenarians were less diverse than the rest of the population. Nearly 83% of centenarians are white, compared to about 72% in the total population. Nearly 6% (5.8%) are Hispanic compared to the 16.3 % of Hispanics who make up the total population.
Image via Robyn Mackenzie/Shutterstock.