Japan centenarian population reach 100,000 as welfare costs rise

TOKYO – The number of centenarians in Japan now exceeds 100,000 for the first time, a milestone that highlights the country’s remarkable longevity as well as the mounting costs of caring for its rapidly ageing population.The number of people who are 100 years old or older climbed to a record 107,677 as of Sept 15, according to a Health Ministry report released that day. The tally has risen sharply over the decades, from just 153 centenarians when records began in 1963 and around 10,000 in 1998.The milestone reinforces Japan’s status as a global leader in lifespans, reflecting advances in public health and medical care as well as relatively healthy diets and active lifestyles. Separate United Nations estimates put the global centenarian population at about 672,000, with Japan having the most of any country by far.Japanese women are particularly long-lived, comprising about 88 per cent of the country’s centenarians. Research has linked their longer lives in part to historically lower exposure to smoking, heavy drinking and fatal accidents.The rising number of elderly also highlights the fiscal strain created by Japan’s rapidly ageing population.Roughly one in three residents, or around 40 million people, now receive public pensions, while a shrinking pool of workers must finance rising spending on pensions, healthcare and elderly care – at a time when the government is also seeking funds for priorities ranging from defence to its growth strategy.The ministry’s report offered snapshots of life beyond 100.Some centenarians enjoy hobbies such as karaoke and ground golf, a sport somewhere between golf and croquet, while others help preserve memories of World War II by sharing their experiences with younger generations.A few remain at work, including some who still tend fields in rural areas.When Fukuko Ishii turned 100 in September, TV Asahi described her as the world’s oldest TV producer.The nation’s oldest person is a 114-year-old woman living in Kyoto, the report showed.The number of babies born has been on a seemingly irreversible downtrend.Japan’s fertility rate declined in 2025 for a 10th consecutive year to the lowest level in records going back to 1947, according to the Health Ministry. The number of births totalled about 671,000 in 2025, while deaths came to roughly 1.59 million.To meet the needs of the ageing population, the health ministry sought around ¥33.7 trillion (S$277 billion) for pensions and medical care in next fiscal year’s budget, accounting for nearly a quarter of the ¥143 trillion in overall requests from ministries.There are also questions as to who will care for Japan’s growing elderly population. The government estimated it would need around 2.4 million healthcare workers to help the elderly in 2026, compared with 2.1 million in 2024, the latest available figure.The country has responded partly by recruiting more foreign care workers. Their numbers under a skilled-worker visa programme reached about 66,000 in 2025, while the government plans to allow as many as 160,700 under that framework and a new foreign-worker programme.Japan’s experience with extreme longevity offers an early glimpse at the demographic challenges a growing number of countries will likely face. South Korea and Singapore already have similarly long life expectancies and face the same combination of longer lives, fewer births and shrinking workforces. BLOOMBERG