South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Japan sets record for 100-year-olds
Almost all of them are women. The nation celebrates with an annual public holiday on Tuesday.
In mid-July, the Japanese government announced that Chiyo Miyako, the oldest person in the world, had died at the age of 117. Her title would likely not have to travel far, however: Another Japanese woman, the 115year-old Kane Tanaka, was expected to become the oldest women in the world in her place.
New information released by the Japanese Health Ministry suggests there may be more Japanese women who take the record in the future. The ministry announced Friday that the number of Japanese citizens who were over 100 years old had risen to reach 69,785. Of that number, more than 88 percent are women.
The figure is an increase of over 2,000 centenarians from 2017 and a dramatic increase from 1963, when Japan started collecting data on those who had lived past 100. Back then, there were just 153.
Japan celebrates the lives of its centenarians. Monday will be a public holiday known as the Respect for the Aged Day, when those who have reached the 100year mark receive a letter of congratulations from the current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and a commemorative sake cup.
But their growing numbers are also evidence that Japan is a rapidly aging society. The median age of the country is 47.3, according to U.S. government figures. That makes it the second oldest country in the world, after Monaco; with low birth rates leading to a shrinking population, that figure is likely to get higher in the future.
With Japan’s public debt at 236 percent of gross domestic product, there are concerns about the economic burden that this rapidly aging society will place on Japan. Many expect the elderly to suffer under budget cuts in the future, with pension benefits further delayed to the age of 68.