WOMEN CENTENARIANS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19658, 9 June 1927, Page 7

WOMEN CENTENARIANS.

Figures given recently in a Parliamentary reply by Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Minister of Health, show that 449 persons aged 100 or more died in England during the last five years. Of these, 327 were women, who thus outnumbered the men centenarians by nearly three to one. That men are living longer, and women are living longer than men, is stated by health experts to be tho natural result of modern healthy habits. Dr. CJharles Thomson, chairman of the education committeo of the Institute of Hvgiene, said: — People open their windows and their lungs more nowadays, and they are all the better for it. The modern young woman, with her golf and tennis, is a great contrast to i the Victorian young lady, with her swoons and smelling salts and her romantic disposition to be fatigued. The manager of a well-known insurance society said that insurance companies had for years based their premium charges on the assumption of greater longevity among women. He added : A man of 40 who is a "first-class life" may now expect to live until 70, while a woman of the same age can expect four years' longer life. The difference in the longevity of the sexes is reflected in premium charges for annuities. The women have to pay j considerably more.