Happy 108th birthday, Ms. Graham!

Mabel Graham's 108th birthday marks the third time in Scottish history when there have been 7 living people in Scotland aged 108+ concurrently (18 Aug 2014 – 30 Sep 2014, 26 Mar 2018 – 17 Jun 2018). Hopefully on 1 March the current record of 8 living people aged 108+ will be tied. Of course, it's always possible that there may be anonymous people aged 108+ which means the record is already tied or beaten already! 

I have now got fully complete data for deaths in Scotland aged 105+ from 2008 until the present, so I think it's about time I made an update to this post from a few years ago.

First of all, the graph of living people aged 105+ over time:

I've only taken this graph up to March 2022 as the data after that will be very incomplete due to unidentified living people aged 107+. 

The highest number of people aged 105+ living simultaneously is now 54, which was reached in November 2019. This record might have been even higher if there are any remaining unidentified people born before November 1914 still alive. The 106+ record has also increased, reaching 27 in September-October 2019. Shortly after these records were achieved there was a massive collapse in the 105+ and especially 106+ populations, which was at least partly caused by the pandemic, which proceeded to bring the number of 106+ years olds down to just 10 by September 2020.

Next is the updated year cohort graph:

With the inclusion of 1903 and the strong performance of the 1914-15 cohorts, I think this graph now shows a clear positive trend over time. 1903 represented a peak in the number of births in Scotland (133,500) after which followed a slow decline to 120,500 in 1913 and then a more significant decline during WWI, with only 97,500 births in 1917. There was then a boom in 1920, with 136,500 births - which is the highest ever, so 1920 is likely to have around 45 people reach 105+. 

The total database since 2008 includes 450 people; 402 women and 48 men. 367 people were born in Scotland, with the others being born in the following countries: England (64), Wales (4), India (3), Northern Ireland (3), Ireland (2), Italy (2), Belize (1), New Zealand (1), South Africa (1), Turkey (1), United States (1). I have also created a map which shows the number of centenarians in the database who died or are residing in each council area:

Some of the figures might be slightly off, as some people may not have their place of death reported so it is estimated based on their last known residence or where their death was registered. There are also cases like Clare Dawson, who lived her entire life in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire but died in a hospital, in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire - so while for consistency she is included in West Dunbartonshire's data here, her legal residence at death was in South Lanarkshire. Then there's movement outside Scotland - I'm aware of a case of someone moving to Scotland aged 105 (Ethel Lees, from Canada) and someone moving away from Scotland aged 105 (Anne de Sousberghe, to England). Again, for consistency's sake, Ethel Lees is counted in the statistics from her 105th birthday, and Anne de Sousberghe isn't included. 

The colours of the council areas represent the frequency accounting for population of 105-year-olds there (green: high, red: low). South Ayrshire has the highest frequency of people 105+, whilst Clackmannanshire has the lowest. Smaller towns and coastal areas tend to perform better, as people are more likely to move there later in life. 

The database includes a recently-discovered 111-year-old claim who I'm currently in the process of researching. Despite ostensibly being one of the 10 oldest people in Scotland ever, they would not have been the oldest living person in Scotland at the time of her death.

@robbie That's really good work - I know how much time you've put in to making this, so thanks for sharing it with everyone on here.

Cathy Brown - of Hamilton, New Zealand - turned 107 on 31 March. She was born in Fetlar, Shetland - so is likely the oldest living person born in Shetland. 

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