Countries with the most 100-year-olds REVEALED - find out where Britain ranks in our league table

Monaco is home to more centenarians per capita than anywhere else on the planet, the Daily Mail can reveal today.

For every 100,000 residents living in the billionaire's playground, our analysis found almost 950 are at least 100 years olds.

Hong Kong (124 per 100,000 people), Guadeloupe - a French territory in the Caribbean (100), Japan (98) and Uruguay (85) rounded out the top five.

Britain ranked 32nd in our global league table, built using UN figures, with nearly 26 centenarians for every 100,000 people.

The US, meanwhile, came 46th, with an equivalent figure of 20.

Our research also revealed there were 27 nations with no centenarians at all in 2024, including parts of Africa and Oceania.

It comes after a longevity researcher this week claimed people who reach their 100th birthday appear to have a 'superhuman' ability to avoid major illnesses.

Writing in The Conversation, epidemiologist Professor Karin Modig, at the Karolinska Institutet, stated: 'The finding that centenarians manage to delay, and in some cases, avoid disease despite living longer is both intriguing and encouraging.

'It shows it's possible to age more slowly than is typical, and challenges the common belief that a longer life inevitably comes with more disease.'

Her comments came on the back of two studies of older adults in Sweden.

The first, involving more than 170,000 people born between 1912 and 1922, examined participants either from the age of 60 until death or until they turned 100.

Centenarians not only had lower rates of disease in late-midlife, but they maintained this advantage throughout their lives, according to the results.

For example, by age 85, only 4 per cent of those who reached 100 had experienced a stroke. Among those who died between the ages of 90 and 99, the figure was around 10 per cent.

Researchers said this suggested they are not merely surviving serious illness better than others, they are avoiding it for much longer, and sometimes altogether.

However, that project, published last August, focused on more serious diagnoses of major diseases.

An even bigger follow-up study probed whether the key to longevity might also lie in avoiding less serious conditions.

That analysis, published last week, included 40 different medical problems, ranging from mild to severe, such as hypertension, heart failure, diabetes and heart attacks.

Academics followed nearly 275,000 people for around 30 years - either from age 70 until death, or until they turned 100.

Only 4,330 participants - 1.5 per cent—reached the age of 100.

Even when including a wider range of conditions, the findings showed centenarians developed fewer diseases overall, and their rate of disease accumulation was slower across their lifetime.

At age 80, only 8 per cent of centenarians had been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, compared to more than 15 per cent of those who died at 85.

Although most centenarians eventually developed multiple conditions, this typically occurred much later in life - around the age of 89. It also came without the sharp decline seen in non-centenarians during their final years.

By contrast, non-centenarians typically experienced a steep increase in the number of health problems in the last years of their lives.

This pattern was not observed in those who reached 100, whose health decline was slower and more gradual, even into their 90s.

Across the UK, the Office for National Statistics estimates there are more than 16,000 centenarians. This figure has doubled over the last few decades.

The UN figure for the UK differs slightly.

According to that database, which the Daily Mail used for its analysis, there are almost 600,000 centenarians across the world.

The overwhelming majority of these (120,000) are in Japan.

Also ranking in the top 10 for having the most 100 year olds were Puerto Rico (82 for every 100,000 residents), Martinique - another French territory in the Caribbean (67), the Isle of Man (62), Guernsey (49) and France (47).

Experts say the overall increase in number of reaching their 100th birthday is because of improvements in mortality stretching back decades.

These include lifestyle factors, such as a reduction in smoking rates, as well as better working conditions and healthcare improvements like the treatment of heart disease.

Ethel Caterham, 115, is believed to be the oldest living person in the world.

Ethel was born on August 21, 1909, in Shipton Bellinger in Hampshire, before being raised in nearby Tidworth. Now in a care home, Ethel has lived in Surrey for over 50 years.

The title of the oldest person to have ever lived belongs to French woman Jeanne Louise Calment whose life spanned 122 years and 164 days.

Public figures who have lived to 100 include Hollywood star Kirk Douglas - father of actor Michael Douglas - who died in 2020, aged 103.

Fellow silver screen legend Gloria Stewart - best remembered for playing the older Rose in James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic - died in 2010 aged 100.