The number of people aged 100 or above in Japan has surpassed 100,000 for the first time, according to the country’s health ministry.
Japan now has 107,677 centenarians, the highest number in the world. Women account for 88 per cent of the total. The oldest woman is Kishimoto Fuyo, a 114-year-old resident of Kyoto City, while the oldest man is Kato Hikaru, a 112-year-old from Kumamoto, reports BBC.
Health Minister Kenichiro Ueno said he was pleased that so many people were living long, healthy and active lives, attributing the trend to advances in medicine and technology.
However, he warned that the rapidly ageing population posed challenges for maintaining a sustainable social security system.
Experts attribute Japan’s long life expectancy to several factors, including a healthy diet and active lifestyle. Japanese cuisine mainly consists of fish, vegetables and rice, with lower levels of saturated fat compared with many Western diets.
Many older Japanese people also remain physically active through regular walking, using public transport, cycling and stretching exercises.
Japan has been ageing for decades, with sales of adult nappies exceeding those for babies for more than a decade. Companies have also developed products targeting the elderly population, including powered exoskeletons to assist body movement and eyewear that automatically adjusts focus.
The country’s demographic challenges have been intensified by a declining birth rate. For a population to maintain itself, each woman needs to have an average of 2.1 children. Japan’s total fertility rate fell to a record low of 1.14 last year.
According to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan’s population is expected to decline to 87 million by 2070, about 30 per cent lower than its peak of 128 million in 2008.
People aged 65 and above currently account for around 30 per cent of the population, a figure projected to rise to nearly 40 per cent by 2070.
Japanese authorities have described the demographic shift as an “existential crisis”, with Prime Minister Sanae Takichi calling it a “quiet emergency”.
In 2025, Japan’s population declined in all but two of its 47 prefectures, with the pace of decline accelerating.
Government efforts, including subsidies and programmes aimed at encouraging young people to have more children, have so far failed to reverse the trend.
Experts say the reasons are complex, including declining marriage rates, more women joining the workforce and the rising cost of raising children.
Although immigration has increased in recent years, foreign residents make up only around 3 per cent of Japan’s population, and opposition to accepting more migrants has grown.
When Japan began its centenarian survey in 1963, only 153 people aged 100 or above were recorded. The figure crossed 1,000 in 1981 and reached 10,000 by 1998.
The latest figures were released ahead of Japan’s annual “Respect for the Aged” holiday, when the government honours people turning 100 with a personal letter and a traditional sake cup.
However, some studies have questioned the accuracy of global centenarian figures, citing possible data errors, unreliable records and missing birth certificates.
A government audit of Japan’s family registries in 2010 found more than 230,000 people listed as aged 100 or above could not be accounted for, with some having died decades earlier.
The discrepancies were attributed to weak record-keeping, while authorities also suspected that some families may have concealed the deaths of elderly relatives to continue receiving pension payments.
