How likely are you to live to 100? Get the full data

More than a quarter of children aged 16 will see their 100th birthdays. Find out how likely you are to get there
• Get the data
100th birthday cake
A girl born this year has a one-in-three chance of reaching their 100th birthday, while boys have a one-in-four chance, the Office for National Statistics figures show. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

We're all living longer. But how many of us will live to 100?

The Department for Work and Pensions have released a report detailing life expectancy in 2011 and comparing the generations at 20, 50 and 80 years old. The data sees 20-year-olds three times more likely to reach 100 than their grandparents, and twice as likely as their parents.

While a girl born in 2011 has a one-in-three chance of living to their 100th birthday, a boy has a one-in-four chance. However, compared to a baby born in 1931, the children of 2011 are almost eight times more likely to become centenarians.

The predictions by the Office for National Statistics estimate the likelihood of reaching 100 by looking either at your age now or the year of your birth. They show that by 2066, there will be more than half a million people in the UK aged 100 or over.

The phenomenon of Britain's ageing population will impact on everything from pensions to the national health service. Pensions Minister Steve Webb says:

the dramatic speed at which life expectancy is changing means that we need to radically rethink our perceptions about our later lives … We simply can't look to our grandparents' experience of retirement as a model for our own. We will live longer and we will have to save more

Roll over line for numbers

So, what does it mean? Key figures from the data, show:

• The average chance of a 20-year-old to reach 100 is 23%; however women aged 20 have a 26.6% chance - heavily contrasting with the male 19.5%
• Those aged 50 in 2011 have a 14.2% chance of seeing the year 2061 (17% of women, 11.4% of men)
• A further ten years reduces your chances by 2.2%, and by the time they reach 70 the average Briton will be at 10.4%
• Those aged 83-84 now have lowest likelihood of reaching 100 of any age group - 7.2%. Beyond this percentages begin to look up, with a 99-year-old having a 67.% chance of making it through to their 100th birthday

We've extracted the data from the DWP for you to play with. What can you do with it?

Data summary

Likelihood of reaching 100

Click heading to sort table. Download this - and more - data
Year of birth
Male, %
Female, %
BOTH SEXES, %

SOURCE: DWP
1912 0.3 1.1 0.7
1913 0.3 1.1 0.7
1914 0.3 1.2 0.7
1915 0.3 1.2 0.8
1916 0.4 1.3 0.8
1917 0.4 1.4 0.9
1918 0.5 1.6 1.1
1919 0.7 1.9 1.3
1920 0.6 1.8 1.2
1921 0.7 2.1 1.4
1922 0.8 2.3 1.6
1923 1 2.5 1.7
1924 1.1 2.7 1.9
1925 1.2 3 2.1
1926 1.4 3.2 2.3
1927 1.6 3.5 2.5
1928 1.7 3.8 2.8
1929 2 4.2 3.1
1930 2.3 4.6 3.4
1931 2.5 5.1 3.8
1932 2.9 5.6 4.2
1933 3.2 6.2 4.7
1934 3.6 6.8 5.2
1935 4 7.3 5.6
1936 4.3 7.9 6.1
1937 4.6 8.4 6.5
1938 5 8.9 6.9
1939 5.2 9.3 7.2
1940 5.4 9.6 7.5
1941 5.7 9.9 7.8
1942 6 10.3 8.1
1943 6.2 10.6 8.4
1944 6.4 10.9 8.6
1945 6.6 11.1 8.9
1946 6.9 11.5 9.2
1947 7.1 11.8 9.5
1948 7.4 12.2 9.8
1949 7.7 12.5 10.1
1950 7.9 12.8 10.4
1951 8.2 13.1 10.6
1952 8.4 13.5 10.9
1953 8.6 13.7 11.2
1954 8.8 14 11.4
1955 9.1 14.4 11.7
1956 9.3 14.7 12
1957 9.5 14.9 12.2
1958 9.8 15.2 12.5
1959 10 15.6 12.8
1960 10.2 15.9 13.1
1961 10.5 16.2 13.3
1962 10.7 16.5 13.6
1963 11 16.8 13.9
1964 11.2 17.1 14.2
1965 11.5 17.4 14.5
1966 11.8 17.7 14.7
1967 12 18.1 15
1968 12.3 18.4 15.3
1969 12.5 18.7 15.6
1970 12.8 19 15.9
1971 13.1 19.4 16.2
1972 13.3 19.7 16.5
1973 13.6 20 16.8
1974 13.9 20.4 17.1
1975 14.2 20.7 17.4
1976 14.5 21.1 17.8
1977 14.8 21.4 18.1
1978 15.1 21.7 18.4
1979 15.4 22.1 18.7
1980 15.7 22.4 19.1
1981 16 22.8 19.4
1982 16.3 23.1 19.7
1983 16.6 23.5 20.1
1984 17 23.8 20.4
1985 17.3 24.2 20.7
1986 17.6 24.5 21.1
1987 17.9 24.9 21.4
1988 18.2 25.3 21.7
1989 18.5 25.6 22.1
1990 18.9 26 22.4
1991 19.2 26.4 22.8
1992 19.5 26.7 23.1
1993 19.9 27.1 23.5
1994 20.2 27.5 23.8
1995 20.5 27.8 24.2
1996 20.9 28.2 24.5
1997 21.2 28.5 24.9
1998 21.5 28.9 25.2
1999 21.9 29.3 25.6
2000 22.2 29.6 25.9
2001 22.6 30 26.3
2002 22.9 30.4 26.6
2003 23.2 30.7 27
2004 23.6 31.1 27.3
2005 23.9 31.5 27.7
2006 24.3 31.8 28.1
2007 24.6 32.2 28.4
2008 25 32.6 28.8
2009 25.3 32.9 29.1
2010 25.7 33.3 29.5
2011 26 33.7 29.9

Download the data

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet

More open data

Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian

World government data

• Search the world's government data with our gateway

Development and aid data

• Search the world's global development data with our gateway

Can you do something with this data?

• Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group
• Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk

• Get the A-Z of data
• More at the Datastore directory
• Follow us on Twitter
• Like us on Facebook
We have switched off comments on this old version of the site. To comment on crosswords, please switch over to the new version to comment. Read more...