The number of people in Japan over the age of 100 has reached a record high of more than 95,000 people, with almost 90% of them being women - new government data show, AFP reported, quoted by NOVA.
The data once again underscore the slow-growing demographic crisis gripping the world's fourth-largest economy as its population ages and shrinks.
As of September 1, 95,119 centenarians live in Japan, which is 2,980 more than the previous year. 83,958 of them were women and 11,161 were men, the Ministry of Health said.
On September 15, separate government data showed that the number of people over 65 reached a record high of 36.25 million, accounting for 29.3% of Japan's population.
This share puts Japan first on a list of 200 countries and regions with a population of more than 100,000, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.
The prefecture with the most centenarians is Shimane, where nearly 160 people out of every 100,000 are over centenarians, reports Japan's national broadcaster NHK.
Japan is currently 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 Gerontological Research Group. The previous record holder, Maria Brayas Morera, died last month in Spain at the age of 117.
Itooka lives in a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture in western Japan, the ministry said. She often says “thank you” to nursing home staff and expresses nostalgia for his hometown, the ministry said. “I have no idea what the secret of my long life is,”, the oldest man in Japan, Kiyotaka Mizuno, who is 110 years old, told local media.
Mizuno, who lives with his family in Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan, gets up every morning at 6:30 a.m. and eats 3 meals a day - without being picky about his food. His hobby is listening to live sports broadcasts, including sumo, the ministry said.
Japan is facing an ever-deepening demographic crisis, as a growing elderly population causes medical and social care costs to rise sharply, and the workforce to cover them shrinks.
The country's total population is 124 million, after falling by 595,000 the previous year, according to previous government figures.
The government has been trying to slow the shrinking and aging population without significant success, while gradually raising the retirement age -- starting in fiscal year 2025, 65 will become the rule for all employers.