CAN YOU FIT 100 CANDLES ON A CAKE?

• Position: Number of centenarians to increase - Brief Article

The mystique of living to be 100 will be lost by the year 2020 as 100th birthdays become commonplace, predicts Mike Parker, assistant professor of social work, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and a gerontologist specializing in successful aging. He says that, in the 21st century, the fastest growing age group in the country will be centenarians--those who live 100 years or longer.

"Our country is experiencing what. has been called a `triumph of survivorship,'" he notes. "At the turn of the [20th] century, only one in 500 could expect to live to be 100. Among the baby boomers, one in 26 can anticipate reaching 100 or more years of age. By the year 2020, the combination of new insights about the genetics of aging and the effects of a healthy lifestyle may contribute to the capacity of humans to live beyond 120 years, which is generally...