NEARLY 14,000 people are aged 100 or older in England and Wales, according to official data.
The Office for National Statistics said a record 13,924 people hit the landmark age in 2021, up 24 per cent on the last Census in 2011.
A quarter of centenarians said they were in good or very good health.
Lauretta Boston, from London, who turned 100 in October, said: “You never think you’re going to reach that age.
“Even a few months before, I was wondering if I was going to reach 100 because there is always something that goes wrong health-wise.