List of Finnish supercentenarians explained

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.All Finnish supercentenarians were born at a time when Finland was an autonomous state of the Russian Empire.

Finnish supercentenarians

Rank	Name	Sex	Birth date	Death date	Age	Birthplace	Place of death or residence
1	Maria Rothovius[1]		2 October 1887	17 June 2000		Uusimaa	Pirkanmaa
2	Gunborg Hancock[2]		20 April 1912	16 October 2024		Uusimaa	Sweden
3	Suoma Korkee[3]		30 May 1886	1 August 1998		Satakunta	United States
4	Hilda Häkkinen		18 March 1894	31 December 2005		South Ostrobothnia	South Ostrobothnia
5	Selma Tuominen[4]		19 July 1903	12 April 2015		Southwest Finland	Southwest Finland
6	Aarne Arvonen		4 August 1897	1 January 2009		Uusimaa	Uusimaa
7	Fanny Nyström		30 September 1878	31 August 1989		Southwest Finland	Southwest Finland
8	Sirkka Nieminen[5]		28 April 1912	13 January 2023		Southwest Finland	Uusimaa
9	Helvi Kissala[6]		26 October 1913	12 June 2024[7]		Pirkanmaa	Pirkanmaa
10	Saara Ahonen[8]		24 November 1909	29 May 2020		Pirkanmaa	Tavastia Proper
11	Astrid Qvist[9]		6 March 1912	18 July 2022[10] [11]		Ostrobothnia	Ostrobothnia
12	Helfrid Eriksson[12]		23 June 1908	23 October 2018		Uusimaa	Ostrobothnia
13	Anna Hagman		27 December 1895	18 April 2006		Åland	Åland
14	Elsa Tilkanen		26 September 1896	5 December 2006		Southwest Finland	Southwest Finland
	Gunnel Stenbäck[13]		21 September 1914	30 November 2024		Åland	Uusimaa
16	Helvi Kärki[14]		7 December 1906	23 January 2017		Pirkanmaa	Tavastia Proper

Biographies

Aarne Arvonen

Aarne Armas Arvonen (4 August 1897  - 1 January 2009^[15]) 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.

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.^[16] 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. Eventually he moved into the Vanhankylänniemi rest home.^[17] 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.^[18]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Table B - Verified Supercentenarians (Ranked By Age) . Louis . Epstein . Robert . Young . Miguel . Quesada . Mark . Muir . Chris . Law . Marco . Wikkerink . . 1 January 2015 . 11 December 2018.
2. Web site: "Än finns det krut kvar i kärringen!". sv. "There's still gunpowder left in the tank!". Mattias. Aamisepp. Tidningen Ångermanland. 29 April 2023. 29 September 2023.
3. Web site: 2019 validations . Gerontology Research Group . 4 December 2024.
4. News: Turkulainen: Suomen vanhin ihminen kuoli . fi . Turkulainen: Finland's oldest person died . . 14 April 2015 . 17 December 2018.
5. Web site: Sirkka Nieminen . LongeviQuest . 1 June 2023 . 28 September 2023.
6. News: Helvi Kissala täyttää 110 vuotta: "Ei tunnu miltään" . fi . Helvi Kissala turns 110 years old: "It doesn't feel like anything" . Juha Veli . Jokinen . . 26 October 2023 . 27 October 2023.
7. News: Suomen vanhin ihminen Helvi Kissala on kuollut . fi . The oldest person in Finland, Helvi Kissala, has died . Mira . Metsälä . KMV-lehti . 13 June 2024 . 13 June 2024.
8. Web site: Saara Eva Elisabeth Ahonen.
9. News: Astrid Qvist on elänyt niin vanhaksi, että sitä vaikea edes käsittää – tänään 110 vuotta täyttävän naisen teoria pitkän ikänsä salaisuudesta yllättää taatusti terveysintoilijat . fi . . 6 March 2022 . 6 March 2022.
10. News: Nordens äldsta person har dött – Närpesbon Astrid Qvist blev 110 år gammal . fi . Sara . Björklund . Hufvudstadsbladet . 20 July 2022.
11. News: Finlands äldsta, Närpesbon Astrid Qvist dog i måndags – 110-årsdagen firades i mars . fi . Syd-Österbotten . 20 July 2022.
12. News: Suomen vanhin ihminen Helfrid Eriksson on kuollut 110-vuotiaana . fi . Oldest person in Finland, Helfrid Eriksson, has died age 110 . . Sanni . Mattila . 24 October 2018 . 16 December 2018.
13. Web site: Gunnel Stenbäck, Doyenne of Finland, turns 110 . LongeviQuest . Stefan . Maglov . 22 September 2024 . 23 September 2024.
14. News: Suomen vanhin ihminen Helvi Kärki kuoli 110 vuoden iässä . fi . Finland's oldest person, Helvi Kärki, dies at 110 . . Jukka . Vuorio . 24 January 2017 . 16 December 2018.
15. Web site: Suomen viimeinen 1800-luvulla syntynyt kuoli - HS.fi - Kotimaa. https://web.archive.org/web/20140428124706/http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/Suomen+viimeinen+1800-luvulla+syntynyt+kuoli/1135242787027. dead. 28 April 2014. 28 April 2014. 14 August 2017.
16. https://web.archive.org/web/20160223035505/http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20020806IE7 "At age 105, Aarne Arvonen still knows how to enjoy life"
17. Web site: Suomi - Uutiset - Ilta-Sanomat. https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222257/http://www.iltasanomat.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/uutinen.asp?id=1415695. dead. 27 September 2007. 27 September 2007. 14 August 2017.
18. Web site: Finland's oldest person turns 111 years old. https://web.archive.org/web/20120212124741/http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2442:finlands-oldest-person-turns-111-years-old&catid=33:general&Itemid=201. dead. 12 February 2012. 12 February 2012. 14 August 2017.