Validation of Exceptional Longevity in Martinique

Michel Poulain , Tallinn University (TLU) / Universite catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)
Anne Herm, Tallinn University

Martinique, an overseas department of France known for its bananas, its rum and its heavenly beaches has a population of 350,000 inhabitants has the highest average age of any French region, largely due to the significant emigration of young people to metropolitan France. French demographers validated the presence of a high proportion of supercentenarians in Martinique as well as in Guadeloupe. In the meantime, we were invited by an association taking care of centenarians and visited 10 of the 34 municipalities of Martinique. In each of these, they recorded all the birth certificates of centenarians and validated their age based on marginal annotations in the birth registers. By dividing the number of centenarians by the total number of births in those years, we were able to estimate the probability of reaching 100 years of age (ELI, the Extreme Longevity Index). It reaches to the level of 10 centenarians per 1000 newborn, a level necessary to talk about exceptional longevity. The detailed demographic analysis of longevity in Martinique, compared to France, leaves no doubt about the exceptional situation observed in Martinique. Whether one looks at the prevalence of centenarians, the probability of reaching 100 years of age within a generation of newborn or compares mortality levels at high ages, the advantage of the population born in Martinique is clear. Martinique thus displays a longevity comparable to that of Sardinia and Okinawa, which allows to grant the status of Longevity Blue Zone to this island.

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 Presented in Session P2. Health, Mortality, Ageing - Aperitivo