If you are banking on living for over a century, Italy would appear to be the best place in Europe to reach the venerable status of Supercentenarian. According to the Italian National Statistics Institute ISTAT, there are currently 17,630 centenarians in the country, six of whom are verified as living supercentenarians – the title given to those who have topped their  110 nth birthday.

The oldest person in Italy at the moment is Sardinian Giuseppina Projetti-Frau, aged 116. She is also currently the oldest person in Europe. Women who celebrate their century outnumber men by 14,716 to 2,911. A healthy country life does not seem to be an essential. In Rome, there are over one thousand 200 centenarians and in Milan 973, while the industrious northern Lombardy region boasts the biggest collection (2,717) of super-silvers.

Info: www.istat.it - www.academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology