Eldemire-shearer - ricardo makyn/staff photographer
With one of the most startling murder rates per capita in the world, Jamaica still has more than a thousand centenarians living among its 2.8-million-strong populace.
For the mathematics enthusiasts, that is more than 100,000 years combined. Wow!
"Over 700 of them (the centenarians) are actually on the voters' list. That's how we began to find out about them," said Denise Eldemire-Shearer, professor of public health and ageing at the University of the West Indies, during her keynote address at The Gleaner Company's pensioners' luncheon at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.
"It does seem quite a lot. It also speaks to how we are ageing," said the advocate of the aged.
The number of centenarians lifting their proverbial bats to the pavilion in celebration of their ton is poised to rise.
According to Professor Denise Eldemire-Shearer, head of community health and psychiatry at the UWI, persons in the over-60 age cohort, especially those above 80 years old, were the fastest-growing demographic.
Eldemire-Shearer also pointed out that figures from the United Nations indicate that "at age 60, life expectancy is approximately 25 years" in Jamaica.
10 per cent at retirement
She also pointed out that 10 per cent of the population, or approximately 280,000 persons, were already at, or had exceeded the official retirement age of 65 years.
While admitting that retirement was a challenge, Eldemire-Shearer told the pensioners that it was "a challenge that can be met".
Pensioners were yesterday lauded for their sterling service to The Gleaner and its subsidiaries. They were assured that the future of the company they laboured to help shape continued to be in good hands.
Pension not enough
Many of the retirees lamented that pensions were not enough.
In a moving vote of thanks, veteran journalist Ken Allen, who recently rode off into retirement's sunset, said he was still "trying to purge his soul of The Gleaner".
"I keep dreaming about editing copy," he said before helping to bring the curtains down on an event staged in honour of The Gleaner's 45 pensioners.