Centenarians in the United States: Information from Census 2000

Karen Humes, U.S. Census Bureau
Victoria Velkoff, U.S. Census Bureau

The oldest old, and centenarians in particular, are of interest to researchers in that these populations help us to understand the biological and social factors associated with such exceptional longevity. Although centenarians comprise a small proportion of the total population, their numbers are growing. This poster uses Census 2000 data to examine the centenarian population in the United States. We present information on the centenarian population enumerated in Census 2000, as well as information on the octogenarian and nonagenarian populations. The social and economic characteristics of these oldest old populations are analyzed and presented. Special attention is given to data quality issues, including age misreporting and alternative sources of data that can be used to calculate the number of centenarians.