Though documentation is rare, many people over the past several thousand years have likely lived as long as Jean Calment, the Frenchwoman who died at age 122 in 1997. But while the upper limit of our lifespan has remained relatively stable through the course of recorded history, the number (and percentage) of people reaching the later stages of that span has increased dramatically during the last century. (read more…)
(1) AoA Online History: Timeline: (www.aoa.gov/about/over/over_history.asp)