Fasting serum lipid and lipoprotein concentrations and related characteristics were measured in 70 female and 33 male nonagenarians and in a control group of 61 women and 48 men aged 70 years when sampled. Both groups were randomly selected from the Giessen area. The mean age ( ± SD) of the nonagenarians was 91.7 ± 2.5 years. Mean ( ± SD) serum total cholesterol (TC), total serum triglyceride (TG), very low density triglyceride, low-density cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density cholesterol (HDL-C) were higher in nonagenarian women than in nonagenarian men: 219.0 ± 46.4 and 203.5 ± 42.1 mg/dl, 1.64 ± 1.15 and 1.06 ± 0.38 mmol/l (p ≤ 0.001), 1.04 ± 1.03 and 0.62 ± 0.34 mmol/l (p ≤ 0.01), 137.8 ± 37.5 and 133.8 ± 38.5 mg/dl, 54.4 ± 15.5 and 51.8 ± 14.4 mg/dl, respectively. The 90th percentile levels for TG, very low density triglyceride, TC, LDL-C, and HDL-C in the nonagenarians were 2.34 and 1.58 mmol/l, 267, 193 and 76 mg/dl, respectively, the 10th percentile levels being 0.72 and 0.32 mmol/l, 153, 87, and 34 mg/dl. In the control group the 90th percentile level for HDL-C was found to be more favorable, being 79 mg/dl. In both females and males TC was closely correlated with LDL-C, r = 0.84, 0.93, p < 0.001, whereas TG and HDL-C were inversely correlated, r = ––0.39, ––0.40, p < 0.001, < 0.05. Primary hyper-α-lipoproteinemia (HAL), defined as HDL-C level ≥ 70 mg/dl, was found in 17 nonagenarians (13 women and 4 men) and in 23 70-year-old subjects (20 women and 3 men). The difference in favor of the younger group was not significant. 4 nonagenarians and 3 70-year-old subjects exhibiting primary HAL, selected as probands for family studies, showed a familial aggregation of HAL, thus identifying them as having familial HAL. Primary hypo-β-lipoproteinemia (HBL) was tentatively identified in only 1 female nonagenarian. The nonagenarians with and without HAL did not differ with regard to their relative distribution to one of three different vitality groups and not even with regard to their relative weight and electro-cardiographic findings. A definite or trace sinking pre-β-lipoprotein band was found in 42 and 17 nonagenarians, respectively, without relation to sex, relative body weight, lipid and lipo-protein concentrations and prevalence of atherosclerotic vascular disease/cardiac insufficiency. Hypo-α-lipoproteinemia (defined as HDL-C level ≤ 45 mg/dl in women and ≤ 35mg/dl in men) was the most frequently encountered lipid abnormality, occurring in 3 very old men and in 24 very old women, followed by the presence of type IV hyperlipoproteinemia (defined as TG level ≥ 2.26 mmol/dl) in 10 female nonagenarians. The LDL-C concentrations of the nonagenarians did not exceed 207 mg/dl. Longevity analyses, based on personal communications and not on certificates of death, revealed no differences in the life expectancy of ancestors (mothers/fathers/parents) in the two study groups and in relation to primary HAL/HBL of their nonagenarian/septuagenarian offspring. When the siblings of the nonagenarians were included in the calculations, the analysis showed that longevity was quite customary in these nonagenarian families. The reported data do not provide evidence for an association of prim