Japan counts 107,677 people aged 100 or older, passing 100,000 for the first time

Japan now has 107,677 residents aged 100 or older. The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry published the figure on 15 September from the basic resident register as of 1 September. It is the first time the count has crossed 100,000 since the survey began in 1963, and the 56th straight yearly rise.

The increase from last year is 7,914 people. Women account for 94,298 of the total, or about 87.6 percent. Men rose by 1,400. Women rose by 6,514. Per 100,000 residents the national rate is 87.51.

Health Minister Kenichiro Ueno told a Tuesday briefing that he was pleased so many people have stayed active for a long time. He also said a longer health span matters because many of those people still support society. The ministry released the numbers ahead of Respect for the Aged Day, the third Monday in September, when the government sends a letter from the prime minister and a silver-plated sake cup to people who turn 100 in the fiscal year.

This fiscal year 54,294 people will turn 100 by 31 March 2027, up 1,984 from the previous year. Of those, 45,769 are women.

Where the density sits

Prefectural rates still follow an old rural pattern. Shimane recorded 186.65 centenarians per 100,000 people, the highest ratio for the 14th year running. Kochi followed at 169.52 and Tottori at 152.48. Saitama was lowest at 51.27, then Aichi at 57.79 and Osaka at 60.06. The urban-rural gap is not new. It tracks where younger workers have left and where older households have stayed.

The oldest woman on the list is Fuyo Kishimoto of Kyoto city, born 20 December 1911, now 114. She became the oldest after Shigeko Kagawa of Yamatokoriyama in Nara Prefecture died in August at 115. The oldest man is Hikaru Kato of Kumamoto city, born 2 May 1914, now 112.

How the line moved

When the Act on Social Welfare for the Elderly took effect in 1963, Japan counted 153 people aged 100 or more. The total passed 1,000 in 1981, 10,000 in 1998 and 50,000 in 2012. Since 1970, when the figure was 310, it has risen every year.

Those steps sit on a country that is also shrinking. Low fertility and a long-running drop in the working-age share mean the same longevity that produces this milestone also loads pensions, long-term care beds and municipal budgets. The ministry's own framing this week stressed health span rather than raw lifespan. That is the policy problem the numbers describe: more people living past 100 only helps public finances if they stay out of heavy care for as long as possible.

Japan already has the largest centenarian population recorded anywhere. Migration has risen in recent years and remains low next to other large economies, so the rise is almost entirely domestic ageing rather than inflows of older arrivals.

What the cups do not settle

Researchers who work on extreme-age records have, in other countries, flagged weak vital registration as a source of inflated counts. Japan's basic resident register is a stronger base than many civil lists. Even so, the ministry figure is an administrative snapshot, not a clinical census of every listed person. The silver cups go out on that register.

Ueno's brief comment on people who still support society points at unpaid care and part-time work that official labour surveys only partly catch. Municipalities in Shimane, Kochi and Tottori already run the densest old-age services in the country. The 7,914 new names this year will not land evenly. They will land where the ratios are already high.

The next test is fiscal 2027, when another 50,000-plus people are due to cross 100 if current survival rates hold. The 100,000 mark is a round number. The slope behind it is the part that will set staffing and tax choices for the rest of the decade.