Oldest competitive walker
Philip Rabinowitz, born in Lithuania on February 16, 1904, one of seven boys. When he was 21 he left the country due to anti-Semitism. After settling in South Africa, Rabinowitz managed to raise the money to pay for his family to join him there. All but his two brothers, who tragically died in concentration camps, joined him. He met his wife in 1935 and they had two daughters, and he now lives with one of them. Rabinowitz has always enjoyed exercise. He took up karate when he was 70 years old, and jogged until he was 88 years old. He puts his fitness down to a healthy diet, an active mind and not worrying. (Guinness Book of World Records)

Oldest woman to loop the loop
Adeline Ablitt (b. 1903), from Coventry, England, was 95 when she took to the skies in a glider and looped the loop. At the age of 90, someone told her that age is a state of degeneration; now she is a woman who does not believe in old age anymore, and her zest for life certainly proves it. As a child she begged her father for stilts, and she was one of the first women to ride a scooter around Coventry City. The loop-the-loop flight with the Wellesbourne Gliding Club was an amazing occasion for Adeline. She wasn't nervous, but enjoyed the peace and tranquility - she believes heaven will be something like that! Not one to rest on her laurels, Adeline has taken up swimming again and one day hopes to take a ride in a hot-air balloon. (Guinness Book of World Records)

Oldest woman astronaut
The oldest woman in space has been Shannon Lucid (USA), who was aged 53 years on the space-shuttle mission STS 76 Atlantis in March, 1996. She is the first and only woman to have made five spaceflights. (Guinness Book of World Records)

Oldest person. Period.
The oldest fully authenticated age to which any human has ever lived is 122 years and 164 days, by Jeanne Louise Calment. She was born in France on February 21, 1875, and died at a nursing home in Arles, southern France on August 4, 1997. (Guiness Book of World Records)

Oldest person to ski to the north pole
Jack Mackenzie (Canada) joined a ski expedition to the geographic North Pole at the age of 77 years, 10 months, and 13 days, reaching the pole on April 28, 1999. Jack was born in New Richmond, Quebec, on June 15, 1921. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940, flying to England and the Middle East, and from Gibraltar and North Africa to Italy, until 1945. After World War II he worked for the Bank of Nova Scotia, Ottawa, before joining the Federal Public Service. Retiring in 1976, Jack spent the following 19 years traveling extensively with his wife on six continents, never repeating a destination. After his wife died in 1995, he continued adventure travel by joining various expeditions - to the west coast of Greenland, across the Drake Passage to Antarctica, the seventh and final continent for him to visit, and 4,000 km. (2,485 miles) across China. During his North Pole expedition, as part of a nine-member team led by explorers Richard Weber (Canada), and Dr. Mikhail Malakhov (Russia), Jack reached the pole after covering 100 km. (62 miles) in five and a half days, skiing five to seven hours each day. In July, 2000, the Government of the Province of Ontario, Canada, made him Senior Citizen of the Year for the Township of Goulbourn, for charitable works. He now continues to travel. (Guiness Book of World Records)

50% of Americans have a gray hair before they reach 50. (www.funtrivia.com)

The average American eats 114,000 Tootsie Rolls in his or her lifetime, regardless of whether or not they like them. (The Bathroom Book of Trivia)

The average person spends 2 years of their lifetime on the telephone. (www.funtrivia.com)

The average human's heart will beat 3000 million times in their lifetime. (www.funtrivia.com)

The average person will spend approximately 2 weeks of their life kissing. (Discovery Channel)

One thing that humans do more than anything in their entire life is sleep. Most Americans sleep more than 6-8 hours a day, which is, on average, around 24 years of ones life! (Sleep Disorders by Chris Ray)

The average person will eat 35,000 cookies in their life time! (www.funtrivia.com)

In the year 2025, the number of Americans over 65 will outnumber teenagers by more than two to one. (World Health Network)

By the year 2025, over 18% of the world population will be seniors (World Health Network)

In 1990, more than 31 million Americans were over 65 years old, nearly twice the number as in 1960. By 2020, when a large part of the baby boomer generation has passed age 65, there will be more than 50 million older Americans. (World Health Network)

The need for long-term care affects nearly all American families. More than 40 million people have some limitations in activities of daily living due to chronic conditions. Approximately 9 million Americans of all ages are significantly restricted due to illness or disability and require personal assistance or long-term care services. (Alliance for Retired Americans)

Social Security keeps 39 percent of older people out of poverty. For those ages 85 or older, almost half (49 percent) would be in poverty if it were not for Social Security. (Alliance for Retired Americans)

Based on a total of almost 50 million weekly Web users, 19% are 50 years old or older. 40% of the U.S. adults over 50 have a computer at home and 70% of the U.S. seniors who own a home computer surf the web. And the number is going up weekly! (SeniorWeb)

Although seniors currently represent only 15% of the population, they account for almost 40% of the prescriptions. (World Health Network)

The 1994 Census Bureau Report estimates that 3.7 million children live in a household headed by a grandparent. For almost 1.3 million children, a grandparent, often the grandmother, is their primary caregiver.

More than 23 percent of American households have at least one caregiver who is taking care of a relative or friend older than 50. A survey of family caregivers, working and nonworking, shows the average caregiver provides 18 hours of care a week. One in five caregivers provides constant care for an average of 57 hours a week. One-third of the family caregivers providing constant care are 65 or older. (Alliance for Retired Americans)

One in seven Americans--nearly 40 million--have some form of arthritis. That number will climb as the baby boomers age. By 2020, about 60 million Americans will have arthritis, according to The National Arthritis Data Workgroup of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

Seniors spend more of their recreational budget on travel than any other age group. (USA Today)

According to a recent study, only 30% of Americans aged 45-64 get regular exercise. Adults 65 and older did slightly better with 32% reporting they were involved in a regular exercise program. (National Center for Health Statistics)

More than 30% of Americans age 55 and older say they walk for exercise. Walking is their first choice for fitness activities followed in order by: swimming, fishing, bicycle riding, camping, golf, bowling, exercise equipment, hiking, hunting, aerobics, calisthenics, jogging, and tennis. Women prefer fitness-related activities and men prefer outdoor sports. (www.senior-site.com)

Being physically active is a real key in maintaining quality of life and independence. Regular exercise helps prevent bone loss (reducing the risk of fractures) and reduces the risk of dozens of diseases associated with aging. It also increases muscle strength and may improve balance and coordination, which can reduce the likelihood of falling. It also increases the ability for basic living, making it easier to carry grocery bags, get up from a chair and take care of household chores.

According to a nationwide study of doctors and nurses, a quarter of older Americans are malnourished and many more are not eating the foods they need to preserve their health. (World Health Network)

Older Americans are disproportionately likely to commit suicide. In 1997, 20% of all U.S. suicide deaths were by individuals aged 65 and older. (National Center for Health Statistics)

In 1999, there were 20.2 million older women and 14.3 million older men, or a sex ratio of 141 women for every 100 men. The sex ratio increased with age, ranging from 118 for the 65-69 group to a high of 237 for persons 85 and over. (U.S. Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics)

Since 1900, the percentage of Americans 65+ has more than tripled (4.1% in 1900 to 12.7% in 1999), and the number has increased eleven times (from 3.1 million to 34.5 million). (U.S. Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics)

In 1998, persons reaching age 65 had an average life expectancy of an additional 17.8 years (19.2 years for females and 16.0 years for males). (U.S. Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics)

A child born in 1998 could expect to live 76.7 years, about 29 years longer than a child born in 1900. (U.S. Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics)

Almost 2.0 million persons celebrated their 65th birthday in 1999 (5,422 per day). In the same year, about 1.8 million persons 65 or older died, resulting in a net increase of approximately 200,000 (558 per day). (U.S. Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics)

In 1999, about half (52%) of persons 65+ lived in nine states. California had over 3.6 million; Florida 2.7 million; New York 2.4 million; Texas 2.0 million; and Pennsylvania 1.9 million. Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, and New Jersey each had well over 1 million. (U.S. Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Health Statistics)

In 1999, 4.0 million (12 %) Americans age 65 and over were in the labor force (working or actively seeking work), including 2.3 million men (16.9%) and 1.7 million women (8.9%). They constituted 2.9% of the U.S. labor force. About 3.1% were unemployed. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

The educational level of the older population is increasing. Between 1970 and 1999, the percentage who had completed high school rose from 28% to 68% About 15% in 1999 had a bachelor's degree or more. (Current Population Reports, "Educational Attainment in the United States: March 1999," P20-528).