{"id":86082,"date":"2025-08-21T23:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/86082\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T23:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:11:10","slug":"worlds-oldest-person-ethel-caterham-celebrates-116th-birthday-in-surrey-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/86082\/","title":{"rendered":"World’s oldest person, Ethel Caterham, celebrates 116th birthday in Surrey, England"},"content":{"rendered":"

British great-grandmother Ethel Caterham celebrated her 116th birthday on August 21.<\/p>\n

Born in Hampshire in 1909, Ethel Caterham officially became the oldest living person earlier this year, following the World’s oldest person dies<\/a> who previously held the record.<\/p>\n

She currently lives in a care home in Surrey, having outlived her husband and both her daughters.<\/p>\n

Naturally, such milestones spark curiosity and admiration.<\/p>\n

We have long been fascinated by people who live well past 100, often asking them for their secrets to a long and happy life.<\/p>\n

But Ms Caterham’s age raises another question: how sure are we that anyone is living to 110, let alone 116?<\/p>\n

According to research, a surprising number of the world’s so-called “supercentenarians” (people aged 110 and older) may not be quite as old as they claim.<\/p>\n

And in many cases, the reason is not some elaborate conspiracy, it is just bad record-keeping.<\/p>\n

British great-grandma becomes world’s oldest person at 115<\/a><\/p>\n

Ethel Caterham says her secret to long life is “never arguing with anyone”.<\/p>\n

‘Blue Zones’ raise red flags<\/p>\n

For years, cities like Okinawa in Japan and Sardinia in Italy have been dubbed “Blue Zones”, regions where residents reportedly live significantly longer, healthier lives.<\/p>\n

But when Dr Saul Newman, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, started digging into the demographics behind these zones, things did not quite add up.<\/p>\n

Take Okinawa: it is often celebrated as a model of healthy aging, but it actually has one of the lowest life expectancies in Japan, along with high poverty and poor health outcomes.<\/p>\n

And yet, it is reportedly full of supercentenarians? Unlikely, says Newman.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ethel Caterham became the world’s oldest person in April. (AFP: Hallmark Care Homes\/George Archer\/File)<\/p>\n

He believes the more plausible explanation is a mix of recording errors, misreported birthdates and, in some cases, deliberate misrepresentation.<\/p>\n

A similar pattern appears in Sardinia, Italy.<\/p>\n

Some of the poorest, least healthy, most crime-ridden parts of Italy have the highest concentration of supercentenarians.<\/p>\n

Dr Newman concludes these regions are more likely to produce errors or even pension fraud, where someone may be collecting benefits under the name of a deceased relative.<\/p>\n

Birth certificates in the US<\/p>\n

In the early 20th century, US states adopted formal birth certificates at different times.<\/p>\n

And when a state began requiring accurate, official birth documentation, something fascinating happened: the number of reported supercentenarians dropped dramatically.<\/p>\n

Stream now on ABC iview <\/a><\/p>\n

The enigmatic Isabelle arrives in the quiet seaside cul-de-sac of Pleasant Court \u2014 and suspicions quickly rise. Stream all episodes now on ABC iview.<\/p>\n

Newman found that the introduction of birth certificates led to a 69\u201382 per cent fall in the number of people reported to have reached age 110.<\/p>\n

That suggests that seven to eight out of every 10 so-called supercentenarians may never have reached that age at all.<\/p>\n

So where does that leave Ethel Caterham? She may well be 116.<\/p>\n

She was born in an era with far better documentation but for many others, reaching 110 may have less to do with a long, healthy life and more to do with a missing birth certificate.<\/p>\n

But Ms Caterham shared her own secret to longevity on her birthday last year.<\/p>\n

“Never arguing with anyone!” she said.<\/p>\n

“I listen and I do what I like.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British great-grandmother Ethel Caterham celebrated her 116th birthday on August 21. Born in Hampshire in 1909, Ethel Caterham…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[17651,64365,7736,64,63,134,64367,22103,10485,64363,64364,64366,64362,427,24862],"class_list":{"0":"post-86082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-age","9":"tag-age-keeping","10":"tag-ageing","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ethel-caterham","15":"tag-good-news","16":"tag-longevity","17":"tag-oldest","18":"tag-oldest-person","19":"tag-oldest-person-in-the-world","20":"tag-supercentenarians","21":"tag-tv","22":"tag-world-record"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}