Raised for the 55th consecutive year. 88% are women
The number of centenarians in Japan grows for the 55th consecutive year, touching 100 thousand, and of these almost 90% are women. According to the Japanese Ministry of Health which published the data in view of the national holiday on Monday dedicated to the third age, the number of people aged or over 100 years of age at 99,763, it is an increase of 4,644 units compared to the previous year. Specifically, women represent about 88% of the total, with 87,784 people, while the number of centenary men is equal to 11,979. Currently the oldest person in Japan is Shigeko Kagawa, an 114 -year -old woman from Yamatokoriyama, in the prefecture of Nara; While the oldest man in the country is Kiyotaka Mizuno, 111 years old, residing in Iwata, in the prefecture of Shizuoka. The Tokyo government started the survey on the centenarians in 1963, when their number was just 153. The figure exceeded 1,000 in 1981, and 10,000 in 1998, and then gradually increased.
According to the Ministry’s data, in 2024 the average life expectancy was 87.13 years for women and 81.09 years for men. The increase in life expectancy in Japan, among the highest in the world, according to medical experts, is mainly attributable to the decrease in deaths for heart disease and common forms of cancer, in particular breast and prostate cancer. Japan also has low obesity rates, which represents one of the main factors that contribute to both diseases, thanks to a food diet that limits the presence of red meat and is instead rich in fish and seasonal vegetables.
