List of Finnish supercentenarians

This is a list of Finnish supercentenarians (people from Finland who have attained the age of at least 110 years). The oldest person ever from Finland was Maria Rothovius, who died in 2000, aged 112 years 259 days.^[1] All Finnish supercentenarians were born at a time when Finland was an autonomous state of the Russian Empire.

Finnish supercentenarians

  Deceased   Living

Rank	Name	Sex	Birth date	Death date	Age	Birthplace	Place of death or residence
01	Maria Rothovius[1]	F	2 October 1887	17 June 2000	112 years, 259 days	Uusimaa	Pirkanmaa
02	Gunborg Hancock[2]	F	20 April 1912	16 October 2024	112 years, 179 days	Uusimaa	Sweden
03	Hilda Häkkinen[1]	F	18 March 1894	31 December 2005	111 years, 288 days	South Ostrobothnia	South Ostrobothnia
04	Selma Tuominen[3]	F	19 July 1903	12 April 2015	111 years, 267 days	Southwest Finland	Southwest Finland
05	Aarne Arvonen[1]	M	4 August 1897	1 January 2009	111 years, 150 days	Uusimaa	Uusimaa
06	Fanny Nyström[1]	F	30 September 1878	31 August 1989	110 years, 335 days	Southwest Finland	Southwest Finland
07	Sirkka Nieminen[4]	F	28 April 1912	13 January 2023	110 years, 260 days	Southwest Finland	Uusimaa
08	Helvi Kissala[5]	F	26 October 1913	12 June 2024[6]	110 years, 230 days	Pirkanmaa	Pirkanmaa
09	Saara Ahonen[7]	F	24 November 1909	29 May 2020	110 years, 187 days	Pirkanmaa	Tavastia Proper
10	Astrid Qvist[8]	F	6 March 1912	18 July 2022[9][10]	110 years, 134 days	Ostrobothnia	Ostrobothnia
11	Helfrid Eriksson[11]	F	23 June 1908	23 October 2018	110 years, 122 days	Uusimaa	Ostrobothnia
12	Anna Hagman[1]	F	27 December 1895	18 April 2006	110 years, 112 days	Åland	Åland
13	Elsa Tilkanen[1]	F	26 September 1896	5 December 2006	110 years, 70 days	Southwest Finland	Southwest Finland
14	Gunnel Stenbäck[12]	F	21 September 1914	Living	110 years, 61 days	Åland	Uusimaa
15	Helvi Kärki[13]	F	7 December 1906	23 January 2017	110 years, 47 days	Pirkanmaa	Tavastia Proper

Biographies

Aarne Arvonen

Aarne Arvonen (1897–2009), one of the oldest men ever documented, lived for 111 years and 150 days.

Aarne Armas Arvonen (4 August 1897 – 1 January 2009^[14]) lived for 111 years and 150 days. He became the last known living Finn to have been born in the 1800s, a time when Finland was still an autonomous part of the Russian Empire.^[14]

Arvonen was born in Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland. His mother died when the First World War broke out, and his father, a left-wing journalist and agitator, remarried.

He lost an eye after an accident playing with a gun. He was in the Red Guard in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, and later became its last surviving veteran. During the war, he was captured by the Whites during the battle of Joutseno and survived a year at the Tammisaari prison camp.^[15] He married Sylvi Emilia Salonen and had two daughters, Irma and Paula. They lived in the Kallio district of Helsinki. When his wife died in 1938, he moved to Järvenpää, where he continued to work in his profession as a decorative carpenter. In the summer of 2005, Arvonen was still living in a house he had built himself.^{[citation needed]} Eventually he moved into the Vanhankylänniemi rest home.^[16] Arvonen had been interested in astronomy since childhood and in 1921 he became a founding member of the Finnish amateur astronomy association Ursa; his membership lasted nearly 87 years. He celebrated his 111th birthday in 2008 with his family.^[17]

References

1. Epstein, Louis; Young, Robert; Quesada, Miguel; Muir, Mark; Law, Chris; Wikkerink, Marco (1 January 2015). "Table B - Verified Supercentenarians (Ranked By Age)". Gerontology Research Group. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
2. Aamisepp, Mattias (29 April 2023). ""Än finns det krut kvar i kärringen!"" ["There's still gunpowder left in the tank!"] (in Swedish). Tidningen Ångermanland. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
3. "Turkulainen: Suomen vanhin ihminen kuoli" [Turkulainen: Finland's oldest person died]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 14 April 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
4. "Sirkka Nieminen". LongeviQuest. 1 June 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
5. Jokinen, Juha Veli (26 October 2023). "Helvi Kissala täyttää 110 vuotta: "Ei tunnu miltään"" [Helvi Kissala turns 110 years old: "It doesn't feel like anything"]. Iltalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 27 October 2023.
6. Metsälä, Mira (13 June 2024). "Suomen vanhin ihminen Helvi Kissala on kuollut" [The oldest person in Finland, Helvi Kissala, has died]. KMV-lehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 13 June 2024.
7. "Saara Eva Elisabeth Ahonen".
8. "Astrid Qvist on elänyt niin vanhaksi, että sitä vaikea edes käsittää – tänään 110 vuotta täyttävän naisen teoria pitkän ikänsä salaisuudesta yllättää taatusti terveysintoilijat". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 6 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
9. Björklund, Sara (20 July 2022). "Nordens äldsta person har dött – Närpesbon Astrid Qvist blev 110 år gammal". Hufvudstadsbladet (in Finnish).
10. "Finlands äldsta, Närpesbon Astrid Qvist dog i måndags – 110-årsdagen firades i mars". Syd-Österbotten (in Finnish). 20 July 2022.
11. Mattila, Sanni (24 October 2018). "Suomen vanhin ihminen Helfrid Eriksson on kuollut 110-vuotiaana" [Oldest person in Finland, Helfrid Eriksson, has died age 110]. Iltalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 16 December 2018.
12. Maglov, Stefan (22 September 2024). "Gunnel Stenbäck, Doyenne of Finland, turns 110". LongeviQuest. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
13. Vuorio, Jukka (24 January 2017). "Suomen vanhin ihminen Helvi Kärki kuoli 110 vuoden iässä" [Finland's oldest person, Helvi Kärki, dies at 110]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 16 December 2018.
14. "Suomen viimeinen 1800-luvulla syntynyt kuoli - HS.fi - Kotimaa". 28 April 2014. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
15. "At age 105, Aarne Arvonen still knows how to enjoy life" Helsingin Sanomat International Edition, 6 August 2002. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
16. "Suomi - Uutiset - Ilta-Sanomat". 27 September 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
17. "Finland's oldest person turns 111 years old". 12 February 2012. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2017.