Main points
In mid-2025, there were an estimated 48,620 people aged 90 and over in Scotland. The number of people in this age group has increased by 22% since mid-2015.
For the 90 and over age group, the number of males has increased by 48% since mid-2015, while the number of females has increased by 12%.
There were an estimated 950 centenarians (people aged 100 and over) in Scotland in mid-2025. This was an increase of 5% from mid-2015.
The majority of centenarians were female. In mid-2025, there were four times as many female centenarians as males. However, the number of males has been increasing faster than the number of females.
Over the past decade from mid-2015, the number of male centenarians has grown by 17% whereas the number of female centenarians has grown by 2%.
How has the number of people aged 90 and over changed in Scotland?
The number of people aged 90 and over in Scotland has increased since the 1980s, reaching 48,620 in mid-2025. There were notable decreases between mid-2006 and mid-2009, followed by a large increase between mid-2010 and mid-2012. This pattern reflects birth trends approximately 90 years earlier, with lower birth rates during World War I and a post-war increase.
Figure 1: There are more females than males aged 90 and over
Population aged 90 and over by sex, Scotland: mid-1981 to mid-2025
Life expectancy is higher for females than for males. This means that there are more females in the older age groups, and the gap gets wider with increasing age. In Scotland in 2022-2024, average life expectancy at birth was 81.1 years for females and 77.1 years for males. More information on life expectancy can be found on the NRS website.
Figure 1 shows that in mid-2025, there were almost twice as many females as males aged 90 and over. However, the number of males in this age group has grown more quickly than the number of females over the past decade.
From mid-2015 to mid-2025, the population aged 90 and over has:
increased overall by 22% (+8,810).
increased for females by 12% (+3,290).
increased for males by 48% (+5,530).
How has the centenarian population in Scotland changed?
A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. At mid-2025, there were an estimated 950 centenarians in Scotland (Figure 2). The number of centenarians increased steadily between the 1980s and early 2010s. Since then, it has increased more slowly, with a notable dip between mid-2016 and mid-2020, reflecting birth patterns from about 100 years earlier - around the time of World War I.
In the past decade to mid-2025, the centenarian population has:
increased overall by 5% (+40).
increased for females by 2% (+20).
increased for males by 17% (+30).
Although the number of male centenarians has grown more quickly than female centenarians in percentage terms, the large difference in the overall number of male and female centenarians means this only had a small effect on the balance between males and females.
Figure 2: There were four times more female than male centenarians in mid-2025
Centenarians by sex, Scotland: mid-1981 to mid-2025
Looking at the number of centenarians as a proportion of the overall population of Scotland, Figure 3 shows that since mid-2015, the rate of female centenarians has remained relatively stable albeit with a dip between mid-2017 and mid-2021, fluctuating between 2.4 and 2.8 per 10,000 people. Over the same period, the proportion of male centenarians increased slightly, from 0.6 to 0.7 per 10,000 by mid-2025. These patterns follow a period of consistent increases in centenarian rates between the early 1980s and early 2010s.
Figure 3: The proportion of centenarians has remained broadly stable in recent years
Centenarians per 10,000 population by sex, Scotland: mid-1981 to mid-2025
Background notes
This publication focuses on the population aged 90 and over, including centenarians (the population aged 100 and over) in mid-2025. It also looks at changes in the 10 years from mid-2015 to mid-2025.
These estimates are based on the provisional mid-2025 population estimates and include planned revisions to the mid-2023 and mid-2024 population estimates. All estimates presented refer to the population on 30 June (mid-year). All ages relate to age at last birthday.
How are these estimates used?
These statistics give important insight into the fastest growing age group of Scotland’s population. It is important to have high-quality statistics on this population, for policy development, planning and providing public services. These estimates can be used in areas such as:
Finance allocation
Informing pensions policy
Housing planning
Health and social care planning
Looking at implications of an ageing population
Calculation of Life Expectancy statistics
Methodology
For ages 0 to 89, NRS uses the cohort component method, based on census data. However, census estimates are less dependable for those aged 90 and over, so mid-year population estimates group everyone aged 90 and over together.
To estimate the population aged 90 and over by single year of age, NRS therefore uses the Kannisto-Thatcher (KT) method, which provides more robust single-year estimates for this age group. This uses ‘age at death’ data to reconstruct how many people were alive at each age in previous years. For example, someone dying at 105 in 2024 was alive at 104 in 2023, 103 in 2022, and so on.
By combining several years of deaths data, the KT method estimates how many people are alive at each age, assuming negligible migration. Estimates use a five-year average of deaths data and are aligned with NRS mid-year estimates. Accuracy improves each year as more data becomes available. As such, each year the full time series is revised and superseded by the data in the latest publication. Figures are then rounded to the nearest 10 for publication; however, calculations use unrounded data and may therefore not match exactly. More information on the methodology can be found on the NRS website.
Strengths and limitations
Quality assurance takes place throughout the production of the centenarians’ publication, with checks in place to ensure consistency and completeness.
NRS produces centenarian estimates using deaths and mid-year population data, with quality checks throughout. However, deaths data can contain some inaccuracies (e.g., unverified birth and death dates), and estimates are constrained by census-based mid-year estimates, meaning any census errors are carried forward.
Information about our statistics
These statistics are designated as Accredited Official Statistics. More information about Official Statistics can be found on the Statistics governance and consultation page.
We also provide information about upcoming publications on our website.
If you would like receive updates on our statistics, you can register your interest on the Scottish Government ScotStat website.
