The number of people in Japan aged 100 or older has hit a record high of more than 95,000, almost 90 percent of whom are women, government data showed yesterday.
The figures further highlight the slow-burning demographic crisis gripping the world’s fourth-biggest economy as its population ages and shrinks.
As of Sept. 1, Japan had 95,119 centenarians, up 2,980 year-on-year, with 83,958 of them women and 11,161 men, the Japanese Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Photo: EPA-EFE
On Sunday, separate government data showed that the number of over-65s has hit a record high of 36.25 million, accounting for 29.3 percent of Japan’s population.
The proportion puts Japan at the top of a list of 200 countries and regions with a population of more than 100,000 people, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.
Japan is home to the world’s oldest living person, Tomiko Itooka, who was born on May 23, 1908, and is 116 years old, according to the US-based Gerontology Research Group.
The previous record-holder, Maria Branyas Morera, died last month in Spain at the age of 117.
Itooka lives in a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, the ministry said.
She often says “thank you” to the nursing home staff and expresses nostalgia about her hometown, the ministry said.
“I have no idea at all about what’s the secret of my long life,” Japan’s oldest man, Kiyotaka Mizuno, who is 110, told local media.
Mizuno, who lives in Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture, with his family, gets up at 6:30am every morning and eats three meals a day — without being picky about his food.
His hobby is listening to live sports, including sumo wrestling, the ministry said.
Japan is facing a steadily worsening population crisis, as its expanding elderly population leads to soaring medical and welfare costs, with a shrinking labor force to pay for it.
The country’s overall population is 124 million, after declining by 595,000, government data showed.
The government has attempted to slow the decline and aging of its population without meaningful success, while gradually extending the retirement age — with 65 becoming the rule for all employers from fiscal 2025.
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