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The number of people in Italy living to 100 continues to grow sharply, with more than 2,000 reaching the milestone age in 2025, the vast majority of them women.
There are now 23,548 residents in Italy who are 100-years-old or over, compared with 21,211 in 2024, according to the latest figures from Istat, the national statistics agency. Italy has more than double the number of centenarians than it did in 2009, Istat said.
Of those reaching the milestone age this year, 82.6% are women. Women also take the lead among Italy’s 724 semi-supercentenarians – people aged 105 and over – and among the 19 supercentenarians, those in the 110-plus age bracket.
Lucia Laura Sangenito, who lives in the southern Campania region, will celebrate her 115th birthday on 22 November, making her Italy’s oldest woman and the third oldest in Europe, after Ethel Caterham, 116, in the UK and Marie-Rose Tessier, a French woman who turned 115 in May.
Emma Morano, from the northern Piedmont region, held the title of the world’s oldest person for 11 months until her death in 2017 at the age of 117. Vitantonio Lovallo, Italy’s oldest man, marked his 111th birthday on Friday.
The centenarian population is rapidly growing across EU countries, with the number of people in the bloc aged 100 or more forecast to reach almost half a million by 2050, up from 96,600 in 2019.
France, Italy and Greece have the highest ratio of centenarians per capita. In the UK, the number of people aged 100 and over doubled from 8,300 in 2004 to 16,600 in 2024, according to figures released in October.
In Italy, the southern region of Molise tops the list of centenarians in relative terms, followed by the Aosta Valley and Liguria, Istat said.
Sardinia also boasts a high concentration of centenarians, leading to a cluster of villages on the island being identified in 2004 among the world’s seven so-called “blue zones”, where a significant share of the population live exceptionally long lives.
Perdasdefogu, a town tucked high up in the rugged mountains of south-eastern Sardinia accessible only by a narrow, winding road, has twice entered the Guinness World Records book for its centenarians. The first occasion was in 2012, when the nine siblings that made up the Melis family racked up a combined age of 818. In 2021, the town achieved a second record for having the largest concentration of centenarians in the world, with eight people aged 100 and over in a population of 1,778.
The Mediterranean diet has long been thought to be the main ingredient for longevity among Italians, combined with strong social connections and a healthcare system that is generally considered to be good.
Italian centenarians also tend to be sprightly. Anna Possi, who will be 101 on 16 November, still works in her bar in a town overlooking Lake Maggiore, making her Italy’s oldest barista. She told the Guardian in an interview last year that she will “keep going so long as my health permits”.
In 2022, Candida Uderzo had her driving licence renewed at the age of 100. She’s among at least four centenarians in recent years to have been deemed fit to get behind the wheel, including Luciano Gulmini, who had his permit renewed in 2024 soon after turning 100.
While Italy’s centenarians are hugely celebrated, the ageing population is causing problems for the government, especially as it coincides with a plummeting birthrate, placing pressure on the pension and healthcare systems. In 2024, just 370,000 new births were recorded, the lowest figure since Italy’s unification in 1861.
