TRIPLE-DIGIT LIFE SPANS ARE ON THE RISE.

• Position: Centenarians - Brief Article

Unprecedented numbers of people will be living past the age of 100 in the future. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that, while there were 3,500 people over the age of 100 in America in 1900, there are now about 66,000.

"The rapid growth in the number of centenarians has been a neglected phenomenon," maintains Cynthia G. Wagner, managing editor of The Futurist, the journal of the World Future Society. However, researchers are showing interest, especially in France, where a woman lived to be 122, the oldest confirmed life span.

By 2050, the...