Denmark’s oldest man, Jens Peter Vestergaard, has passed away at the age of 110. Denmark has lost its oldest man, Jens Peter Vestergaard, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 110, reports DR. Vestergaard lived a long and active life, surpassing the average Danish man by 30 years.
His son, Hans Henning Vestergaard, told DR that Jens Peter Vestergaard was a man who valued physical activity. He, for example, cycled 25 kilometers to and from work and approached life with a positive attitude. “He was very physically active and did a lot of exercise. Moreover, he had a positive outlook on life and took things relatively lightly,” said the son.
Throughout his 110 years, Jens Peter Vestergaard was married three times. When asked about the secret to his long life, he had no specific advice. He lived day by day and generally avoided serious illnesses. He told Fredericia Dagblad in 2023, when he turned 109.
Although Jens Peter Vestergaard was Denmark’s oldest man, he was not the oldest Dane. That title belongs to Kirsten Schwalbe, who is also 110 years old. She received the news of her title from TV Midtvest in April this year. “It’s completely wild. I can’t believe it at all. It’s completely crazy,” said Kirsten Schwalbe to TV Midtvest. She noted that the strangest thing about getting old is that her children have also gotten older. Her oldest daughter is 86 years old and lives in a nursing home, while Kirsten herself has chosen to stay at home.
The longest-living Dane who has spent her entire life in Denmark is Karla Lindholm Jensen from Herning, who lived to be 112 years old. She passed away in 2020 in her apartment, where she had lived since 1974 with her husband.
According to the latest figures from Statistics Denmark, newborn boys in Denmark today can expect to live around 79 years, while girls can expect to live a little longer, around 83 years.