20-year-olds three times more likely to reach 100 than their grandparents

TWENTY year olds are three times more likely to reach 100 than people of their grandparent and twice as likely as their parent, new analysis reveals today.

The figures also show that a baby born this year is almost eight times more likely to reach 100 than one born in 1931. A baby girl born this year has a one in three chance of living to 100 and a baby boy has a one in four chance.

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued the figures based on Office for National Statistics predictions.

By 2066 it is estimated that there will be at least half a million people aged 100 or over.

Minister of State for Pensions Steve Webb said: “These figures show just how great the differences in life expectancy between generations really are.

“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. “