The islanders fuelling Denmark’s increasing number of centenarians

Researchers cannot explain the anomaly that island

More Danes are living to the age of 100 than ever before, according to Danmarks Statistik.

Some 1,079 people in Denmark are 100 years old or more – an increase of 30 percent on the last 10 years.

And it is generally Danes living on small islands who are most likely to meet the milestone.

People born between 1906-1915 on the islands of Sydfyn, Ærø, Tåsinge, Langeland and Vestolland have been 37 percent more likely to reach 100 than those living elsewhere in the country.

Difficult to explain why
PhD student Anne Vinkel Hansen carried out the study for Danmarks Statistik, but could not explain the results.

She stressed that the peculiar finding was only true of those who were born on the islands.

“When we looked at people who had moved away, they had as much chance of reaching 100 years as those who continued living there,” she told DR.

 

 

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