Aging: The Reality Demography of

An international committee of demographers has created a carefully documented list of worldwide living supercentenarians (110 years old) that has been published by the Los Angeles Gerontology Research Group on its web site and updated on a weekly basis for the past 6 years [see ‘‘snapshot’ ’ for the year 2003 in the Appendix]. What can be learned by studying this distinguished group of individuals? Also, what are the implications for understanding the fundamental biological limits to human longevity and maximum life span? Our conclusion: Although everyone agrees that average life expectancy has systematically advanced linearly over the last century, it is not realistic to expect that this pace can continue indefinitely. Our data suggest that, without the invention of some new unknown form of medical breakthrough, the Guinness Book of World Records benchmark established by French woman Jeanne Calment of 122 years, set back in 1997, will be exceedingly difficult to break in our lifetime. THE field of human longevity research suggests a numberof fundamental questions that are still waiting to be answered, such as ‘‘Is there really a maximum life span for our species?’ ’ and ‘‘If such an upper limit exists, in what ways do various components of our lifestyle contribute to it