By TOMOE ISHIKAWA/ Staff Writer
September 16, 2022 at 16:16 JST
Fusa Tatsumi, the oldest person in Japan, at a nursing home in Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture, on June 30 (Takashi Nakajima)
A record 90,526 Japanese had celebrated their 100th birthday or more as of Sept. 15, the health ministry reported on Sept. 16.
Japan has now marked a record number of centenarians for the 52nd consecutive year.
Around 89 percent, or 80,161, of those 100 or older as of Sept. 15 were women. There were 4,016 more centenarians this year than last.
There were only 153 in 1963, the year the Social Welfare for the Elderly Law was enacted.
The number topped 10,000 in 1998, however, and after a continuous rise every year, it increased 1.8 times over the past 10 years.
This year, Shimane Prefecture again had the largest proportion of centenarians per population, a status it has maintained for 10 years.
The prefecture had 142.41 centenarians per 100,000 population, followed by Kochi Prefecture at 136.84 and Tottori Prefecture at 132.60.
Saitama Prefecture reported the smallest proportion of centenarians per population for the 33rd consecutive year.
It had only 43.62 residents who were 100 or older per 100,000 population as of Sept. 15.
The oldest person in Japan is 115-year-old Fusa Tatsumi, who resides in Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture.
The oldest man is 111-year-old Shigeru Nakamura, who lives in Jinsekikogen, Hiroshima Prefecture.
As of Sept. 1, it was estimated that 45,141 people will reach 100 this fiscal year. This is 1,508 more than the estimate in the last fiscal year.
In Japan, Sept. 15 is designated as a “day of the elderly” by the revised Social Welfare for the Elderly Law.
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