A CENSUS-BASED COMPARISON OF CENTENARIANS IN NEW-ZEALAND WITH THOSE IN THE UNITED-STATES

OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics of New Zealand's centenaria ns, as given in the 1991 census, and to compare these characteristics with those of centenarians from the United States. DESIGN: A census-ba sed descriptive study. SETTING: The complete national population as de fined by the 1991 New Zealand census. RESULTS: In 1991, there were 246 female and 51 male centenarians in New Zealand. Fifty-one percent of the men and 29% of the women lived at home; 16% lived at home with som eone else (55% with children). People who were widowed were more likel y to be living in a residential institution (69%) than people who were married (40%). Forty-three percent of men and 39% of women earned les s than NZ$10,000 per year. Most had no formal educational qualificatio n. Fourteen percent of men and 35% of women living at home did housewo rk in the previous week. Compared with the United States, there are fe wer New Zealand centenarians per number of population. People of Europ ean race were overrepresented in the New Zealand centenarian populatio n, whereas African Americans were overrepresented in the United States centenarian population. CONCLUSIONS: Our data have shown the heteroge neity associated with extreme ageing and can be used as a basis for co mparison with other countries.