Semi-super and super-centenarians in Italy: implementation of a longitudinal database

Marco Battaglini, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Giorgia Capacci, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Gianni Corsetti, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Marco Marsili, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)

Population ageing has produced, in recent years, a significant growth of the number of elderly in Italy, particularly among the so called "oldest-old people". The share of the population aged 85+ has increased from 2.1 to 2.8 per cent over the last ten years, marking an increase of about 500 thousand people more. The number of centenarians has tripled, from over 5 thousand to over than 16 thousand people, at the same time. In such a context is becoming increasingly important studying closely the subjects who are benefiting from such significant advantages in term of survival, opening new opportunities and posing new challenges to human longevity. To that purpose Istat has been carrying out since 2008 a survey by collecting individual data on people above the age of 104 years. The survey form is compiled on the basis of counting individual sheets of residence, collected in the population register of each municipality on 1st January each year. Such a set of information is the starting point of the survey. All the municipalities for which the residence of supercentenarians has been assessed, are then recontacted in order to collect a more detailed information. There are three types of response: 1) a semisupercentenarian is verified as living on 1st January, then his birth certificate is achieved; 2) a semisupercentenarian is wrongly included in the register, being no confirm about his existence; 3) a semisupercentenarian died after 1st January the survey year and we got his birth and death certificate. Along the last three years a database of semisupercentenarians to be updated over time has been implemented. Two main goals are going to be fulfilled: to improve accuracy and reliability of the registers and to set up the foundations for a reliable study on the longevity of the Italian population