Growing Older: Japan’s Centenarian Population Hits New Record

As of September 1, 2024, there were 95,119 centenarians in Japan, an increase of 2,980 from the previous year, according to resident registration data. This is the fifty-fourth annual rise in people aged 100 or over. Japan is well-known for its longevity, particularly women, who account for the majority of centenarians at 88.3%.

Japan’s oldest woman—and the world’s oldest living person—is 116-year-old Itooka Tomiko, who lives in Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture. The oldest man in Japan is Mizuno Kiyotaka, aged 110 and living in Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture.

In 1963, when the government enacted the Act on Social Welfare for the Elderly, there were 153 Japanese centenarians nationwide. That figure surpassed 1,000 in 1981 and topped 10,000 in 1998, and has since continued to rise by a 10,000 every few years.

The prefecture with the highest ratio of centenarians per 100,000 population was Shimane at 159.5, which was almost 3.5 times as many as that of the lowest, Saitama with 45.8. Western Japan tends to have higher ratios than the east of the country, and there are particularly low figures in the Kantō region, centered on the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Centenarians Per 100,000 Population in Japanese Prefectures

Highest Ratios

Lowest Ratios

Created by Nippon.com based on data published by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner Photo © Pixta.)