Occupations and industry of centenarians’ last occupation
In Census 2021, National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) groupings, previous occupations, and former industries of centenarians only represent those of the cohort who survived to age 100 years. Therefore, they may not be representative of the type of work this cohort did when they were of working age.
In 2021, 28.0% of female and 13.8% of male centenarians reported they had never previously worked. This was the most common NS-SEC group for female centenarians, as women were less likely to work in the past. For example, in 1951, the female economic activity rate was 34.7%, as set out in the ‘Royal Statistical Society’s’ British Labour Statistics: Historical Abstract 1886 – 1968 article. Similar proportions of females were likely to have been in intermediate, semi-routine and routine occupations. For those who had previously worked, males had a more even spread of occupational types with a higher proportion than females in most NS-SEC groups.
A centenarian’s last main job has been classified using the 2020 version of the Standard Occupational Classification and is the nearest equivalent to their job in the current economy.
For formerly employed female centenarians, their most common former occupation was administrative and secretarial occupations (25.9%). For male centenarians, the most common previous occupations were skilled trade occupations (21.9%).
Formerly employed females were more likely than males to have previously worked in:
- administrative and secretarial occupations
- caring, leisure and other service occupations
- sales and customer service occupations
- elementary occupations
Males were more likely than females to have been formerly employed:
- as managers, directors and senior officials
- in professional occupations
- in associate professional and technical occupations
- in skilled trades occupations
- as process, plant and machinery operatives
Notes:
- Percentages may not sum to 100% because of rounding.
Of those who were formerly employed, the most common former industry for female centenarians was wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles (21.1%). Formerly employed males were most likely to have previously worked in the manufacturing industry (20.8%). However, this was also the second most common industry for females (14.1%). Manufacturing was the most common sector of employment during these centenarians’ working lives, contributing up to 29.0% of employment in 1948 to 1959. Read more about this in our Long-term trends in UK employment: 1861 to 2018 compendium.
Lauretta left school aged 14 years, which was the school leaving age at that time. She worked in the entertainment industry as a jazz musician. She first performed in public on her 7th birthday and said music has played an important role throughout her whole life.
I’ve met lots of nice people through music. I was about 17 when the war started. Everybody had to do some war work so I went to entertain the troops and was in a different town each week and a different place each day. When the war finished, I went to Germany for a while and entertained American troops. Then I worked in Dublin before coming back to work in London. Music has been my life.
Lauretta Boston
Health in later life may have been affected by the type of work these centenarians did while they were of working age. However, we can only look at the health status of those who have survived to age 100 years.
Health in general differs across NS-SEC (National Statistics Socio-economic Classification), as shown in our General health by NS-SEC dataset. Centenarians previously in professional, managerial, and supervisory occupations were more likely to have good or very good health. Meanwhile, those in lower technical, semi-routine and routine occupations and those who have never worked were more likely to report bad or very bad health.
Notes:
- Percentages may not sum to 100% because of rounding.
- Former occupation is an individual’s last main job and may not reflect their occupation for their whole working life.
Centenarians who previously worked as managers, directors, and senior officials in professional, associate professional and technical occupations were more likely to report having good or very good health in general compared with those who previously worked in other occupations. Centenarians who were previously process, plant and machine operatives and worked in elementary occupations were the least likely to have very good or good health in the 2021 census, at 18.6% and 20.8%, respectively.
International centenarians
Analysis of international population estimates from the United Nations (UN) World Population Prospects 2022 gives an estimated 593,166 centenarians worldwide in 2021, 7 per 100,000 population.
Overall, the UK ranks as the 7th country worldwide for highest number of centenarians and 9th for number of centenarians per 100,000 population.
Japan ranks first both in terms of the highest estimated number of centenarians and the highest per 100,000 population.
Figure 11: The UK ranks among the top 10 countries worldwide for number of centenarians per 100,000 population
Notes:
- Countries with a total population of fewer than 200,000 have been excluded from this analysis.
There were 26 countries with no estimated centenarians. Of these, 21 were island countries with an estimated total population of fewer than 200,000. The remaining five countries were in Africa.
Worldwide, females tend to have longer life expectancies than males, so there were higher numbers of female centenarians than males. According to the United Nations (UN) World Population Prospects 2022, there were 21 countries that had no male centenarians in 2021. However, there were six countries in which there were more male centenarians than females. These were:
- Equatorial Guinea
- Western Sahara
- Maldives
- Nepal
- Gabon
- Papua New Guinea
There are international “hotspots of longevity” within countries researched by National Geographic and called “Blue zones”. These are specific areas in which there are high proportions of centenarians in the population and whose population also experiences good health in old age. These are:
- Ikaria, a Greek island
- Okinawa, a Japanese island
- the Ogliastra region in Sardinia, an Italian Island
- Loma Linda, a city in California, USA
- the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica
For more information on “Blue Zones”, see the Max Planck Institute’s What are Blue Zones? article.
With thanks to Age UK for the photographs and arranging the interview with Lauretta.
