In the past century, few people live to be 100 years old due to high mortality rates. However, data on extreme old age demographics is poor and unreliable. Factors such as poor century-old records, incentives for incorrect data, and age exaggeration contribute to this. Fixing these data problems is important for demographers, but for researchers working on rejuvenation therapies based on aging mechanisms, the present demographics of extreme old age do not matter. The global pattern of centenarians highlights deep problems in demography, with errors in age records accumulating and distorting late-life data. Analysis of 236 nations over 51 years reveals anomalies in late-life survival data, indicating a persistent inability to detect or measure error rates in human age data.
The measurement of human ages relies on incomplete paperwork-based vital registration systems, leading to inaccuracies that go undetected. Errors in age records can distort data and inflate error frequencies at certain ages, affecting late-life data significantly. This underscores the need for better validation methods to correct these errors and improve the quality of demographic data for extreme old age.
