As US Centenarian Numbers Double, Ex-Lawyer Sees Common Attributes
Former lawyer Lynn Peters Adler has met a lot of 100-year-olds in her work for the group she founded, the Centenarian Awareness Project. And she sees some common characteristics among these older Americans.
The number of people in the United States who have reached their 100th birthday has nearly doubled in the last 20 years, an increase that experts attribute partly to better medical care and lower childhood mortality, the Associated Press reports. Good genes and commonsense decisions also play a role.
Adler told AP she sees several similarities among those in this older group. They have a positive but realistic attitude, a love of life, a sense of humor, spirituality, courage, and an ability to accept the losses that come with age.
In 2010, more than 23 in every 100,000 Americans were centenarians, up from 15 in every 100,000 Americans in 1990, the story says, citing Census Bureau figures. In raw numbers, there were about 72,000 centenarians, about double the number 20 years before.
