How does Trump’s age at inauguration compare to other presidents? | News about Donald Trump
EXPLANATION
At 78 years and 7 months, Donald Trump will become the oldest president in US history on inauguration day.
Donald Trump will be to swear as the 47th President of the United States on Monday.
The 78-year-old will begin his second term as president, becoming the oldest person ever to take office. He will be five months older than Joe Biden, who previously held the record for the oldest president on inauguration day in 2021.
In the following explanation, Al Jazeera visualizes the ages of all US presidents on inauguration day, along with their lifespans and years in office.
The oldest and the youngest American president
Donald J Trump was born in Queens, New York on June 14, 1946, less than a year after the end of World War II.
In 2017, at the age of 70, Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, making him the oldest president to be inaugurated, surpassing Ronald Reagan, who had just turned 70 on Inauguration Day in 1981.
The average age of a US president at inauguration is 57, spanning from George Washington, the first president, who was 57 in 1789, to today.
The youngest US president at the time of the inauguration was Theodore Roosevelt, who became president at the age of 42 after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901.
American presidents who lived the longest
The longest-serving American president was Jimmy Carter, who died December 29, 2024 at the age of 100. He lived for 43 years after serving one presidential term from 1977 to 1981 – longer than any other president.
Of the 41 deceased presidents, six lived over 90 years, five lived between 80 and 90, and the average age of those who died was 72.
John F Kennedy, the 35th president, lived the shortest of all American presidents. He was killed in 1963 at the age of 46.
Longest serving American presidents
Before 1951, there was no formal limit on how many terms a US president could serve. The two-term limit was officially established by the 22nd Amendment, ratified on February 27, 1951, largely in response to Franklin D Roosevelt’s four terms.
Roosevelt, America’s longest-serving president, served from 1933 to 1945, completing more than 12 years in office before dying at the age of 63 during his fourth term.
Most US presidents served one term, not two. Of the 46 presidential positions, only 15 presidents served two or more terms.
The shortest serving president was William Henry Harrison who died on April 4, 1841, just one month into his term.
