This is a list of Finnish supercentenarians (people from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

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 Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

supercentenarians were born at a time when Finland was an

autonomous state An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy— ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

Finnish supercentenarians

Biographies

Aarne Arvonen

Aarne Armas Arvonen (4 August 1897 – 1 January 2009) was a

supercentenarian who 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

. Arvonen was born in

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, his mother died when the First World War broke out, and his father a left-wing journalist and agitator had remarried, he had lost an eye after an accident playing with a gun, he served for the

Red Guard Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard le ...

in the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

of 1918, and later became its last surviving

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

. During the war he was captured by the whites during the battle of Joutseno and spent a year at the

Tammisaari prison camp The Tammisaari camp was a concentration camp and prison in Dragsvik, Ekenäs in Finland. It was set for the Reds captured by the Whites in the 1918 Finnish Civil War. The concentration camp operated from May 1918 to 15 September 1918 when the majo ...

. 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 Järvenpää (; sv, Träskända) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located on the Helsinki–Riihimäki railway track in Uusimaa region, some north of Helsinki. Neighbouring municipalities are Tuusula, Sipoo and Mäntsälä. People ...

., 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. Arvonen had been interested in

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

since his 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.

References

{{Longevity *

Supercentenarians A supercentenarian (sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian) is a person who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of major age-related diseases u ...