Notes:

From this graph we can see that the "gap" between the ages of the oldest authenticated

and the oldest claimed American Centenarians remains significantly large. It is still too

early to tell if there is a downward trend in the oldest claimed ages.  While the

130+ fiction in the United States has been retired to the history books, unlikely claims

in the [120 - 125] range continue to abound. 

In an effort to eliminate some of the "static" in the data, I required that the claim at least

be covered in the press, due to the fact that many SSDI cases above 120 are not even

claims but unreported deaths and century-indicator errors (which are commonplace). 

I also eliminated claims that were later shown to be false, such as Charlie Smith

[1842 - 1979] and Katie White [1864 - 1986].  This does not mean the remaining cases

are proven, only that they have not yet been disproven.

The validated cases have remained steadily above 112 but less than 120.  Also, since the

interval period is one-year, some of the high points (Sarah Knauss peaked at 119.27 years,

barely missing Jan 1, 2000) and low points (September 7, 1994 = 113.95) have not been

plotted, but the general range is fairly obvious.

-- Robert Young, October 21, 2001