BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM
There are 107,677 people in Japan who are currently aged 100 or older, according to recently released health ministry figures. That puts Japan ahead of every other country for centenarian population, and it is the first time the country has crossed the 100,000 mark. The survey tracking this figure started in 1963, when 153 people qualified.
Eighty-eight percent of Japan’s centenarians are women. The oldest is Kishimoto Fuyo, 114, from Kyoto City. The oldest man is Kato Hikaru, 112, from Kumamoto.
The factors behind Japanese longevity
Diet and movement are the two factors cited most consistently. Japanese cuisine runs heavily toward fish, vegetables, and rice, with less saturated fat than most Western diets. Older people in Japan also tend to stay physically active in ordinary ways: walking, cycling, using public transit, stretching. Not structured athletic activity, just daily motion sustained over decades.
Health Minister Kenichiro Ueno credited “progress in medicine and technology” alongside lifestyle. Japanese companies have developed assistive technologies for an older population, tools that help people with mobility and vision stay independent longer.
The data arc on centenarians alone tells you something. Japan started this survey in 1963 with 153 people. The count crossed 1,000 by 1981. It hit 10,000 by 1998. It is now past 107,000. That is not a gradual trend but a curve that is still accelerating.
The demographic tension behind the milestone
The milestone sits alongside a demographic problem Japan has not solved.
A fertility rate at a record low
For a population to replace itself, the average woman needs to give birth to 2.1 children. Japan’s total fertility rate hit 1.14 last year, a new record low. By 2070, the total population is projected to fall to 87 million, down roughly 30 percent from the 2008 peak of 128 million.
People aged 65 and older currently make up around 30 percent of the population. That share is expected to reach nearly 40 percent by 2070.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has called the decline a “quiet emergency.” In 2025, Japan’s population shrank in all but two of its 47 prefectures, and the rate is accelerating. Government subsidies and programs meant to raise birth rates have not moved the numbers. Marriage rates are down, more women are in the workforce, and childcare costs have gone up. None of the government’s programs have changed the trajectory.
A growing strain on social security
Living longer while having fewer children creates a math problem: more people drawing pensions and requiring care, a shrinking pool of working-age people generating the tax revenue to pay for it. Health Minister Ueno noted the challenge of maintaining a sustainable social security system as the older population grows. Immigration has increased, but foreign residents account for roughly three percent of the population, and political opposition to expanding it has grown.
A note on the numbers
There is a wrinkle in Japan’s centenarian data. A government audit in 2010 found more than 230,000 people listed as aged 100 or older who could not be located, some having died decades earlier. The gaps were attributed to poor record-keeping and, in some cases, suspected pension fraud by families who had not reported deaths.
The problem is not unique to Japan. Studies have flagged similar issues in global centenarian counts, with data errors and missing birth records inflating figures in several countries.
Every year on Japan’s “Respect for the Aged” public holiday, those turning 100 receive a personal letter and a traditional sake cup from the prime minister. This year, there were a lot of letters to send.
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