'No large group is known to have maintained complete reproductive isolation for extended periods…
no matter the languages we speak or the colour of our skin, we share ancestors who planted rice on the banks of the Yangtze,
who first domesticated horses on the steppes of the Ukraine, who hunted giant sloths in the forests of North and South America, and
who laboured to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu.'
—Douglas Rohde, Steve Olsen & Joseph Chang, Modelling the recent common ancestry of all living humans,
in Nature (2004)
Population of the world and continental regions,
adults in advanced old age (80 years and older): 1950-2010
Notes: In 2005, 88 million people were aged 80 years or more. Of these, 39 million lived in Asia, 26 million
in Europe, 12 million in Northern America,
7 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, 4 million in Africa, and nearly 1 million in Oceania.
The world population aged 80 or more is presently rising by 4 to 5 percent a year in each of these regions
(including Africa) except Northern America, where it is rising by 2 to 3 percent a year.
Asia's population aged 80 or more was slightly less than Europe's for most of the second half of the
20th century, but then swiftly overtook it in 1995. Europe's population in this age range dipped to 21 million in
1999: much of that generation was lost in the maw of the Second World War.
Notes: In 2005, 88 million people were aged 80 years or more. Of these, 39 million lived in Asia, 26 million in Europe, 12 million in Northern America, 7 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, 4 million in Africa, and nearly 1 million in Oceania.
The world population aged 80 or more is presently rising by 4 to 5 percent a year in each of these regions (including Africa) except Northern America, where it is rising by 2 to 3 percent a year.
Asia's population aged 80 or more was slightly less than Europe's for most of the second half of the 20th century, but then swiftly overtook it in 1995. Europe's population in this age range dipped to 21 million in 1999: much of that generation was lost in the maw of the Second World War.
Source of data: United Nations Population Division, "World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision".