Vi Roden, who turned 101 on June 16, uses a walker as she crosses a street outside her home in West Vancouver, B.C.
2024-06-29 CTVNews
Centenarians are the fastest growing age group in Canada, and the agency says their numbers are poised to rise almost ten times higher over the next half-century.
Vi Roden said she reads an average of 50 books a year, attends history lectures at her local seniors centre, and does yoga twice a week. “It never occurred to me that I would live this long,” said Roden, a former Air Force typist who was 65 when she founded a charity for survivors of sexual abuse.
Statistics Canada data show the country’s population of people aged at least 100 more than tripled between 2000 and 2023, up from 3,393 to 11,705. That makes centenarians the fastest growing age group in Canada, and the agency says their numbers are poised to rise almost ten times higher over the next half-century. Experts attribute the rise to improvements in health care and medical awareness, although genetics likely plays a key role in individual cases.
“It’s with some surprise that we find ourselves now in 2024 and we’re still talking about how to plan for an aging population, we have known for 50 years that this was coming,” Martin-Matthews said. She said she checks on her father every day and buys his groceries, but he is still able to cook and entertain himself.
Research suggests that a combination of public health and medical improvements have contributed to the rise in centenarians. Studies show that on an individual level, staying active, eating well and managing stress are important for long lives, but genetics also play a big part. As Canada’s elderly population rises, the number of people with cognitive decline is also set to increase, said Wong. He said projections suggest Canadians living with dementia “will go up three times in the next 30 years.”
“In the last year, it has been very noticeable and the decline is becoming more prevalent. It has been a learning curve for me personally,” he said. Roden, the yoga fan from West Vancouver, vividly described the “wonderful afternoon” spent celebrating her 101st birthday on a recent Sunday at a granddaughter’s farm in Cloverdale. Guests included all six grandchildren, her 10 great-grandchildren and a llama.
