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The number of centenarians living in Japan tops 100,000 for the first time

Perhaps even more impressively, it’s also the 56th consecutive year that centenarian numbers have broken records.

100 is an impressive number on its own, especially when you see it laid out in some kind of visual form. 100 coins, 100 books, 100 days on a calendar…you’re probably running out of physical room to display whatever it is. However, let’s now multiply that number by 1,000 to arrive at 100,000–a virtually incomprehensible number from a visual standpoint, but one that’s now connected to a new population record in Japan.

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare recently announced that as of September 1, there’s a record number of 107,677 centenarians living in Japan–which is up 7,914 people from the previous year and is the first time the number has surpassed 100,000. For reference, when the Ministry began tracking numbers in 1963, there were only 153 documented centenarians, and the number surpassed 50,000 for the first time in 2012. Currently, the oldest living woman is 114-year-old Fuyo Kishimoto of Kyoto City and the oldest living man is 112-year-old Hikaru Kato of Kumamoto City.

▼ We’re gonna need a bigger cake for all of those candles.

Out of this year’s record number, 94,298 of them are women–which is just shy of 90 percent–while 13,379 are men. It also includes a combined 54,294 foreign nationals and permanent residents of Japan, with 45,769 women and 8,525 men. That’s also the highest number ever recorded, with a 1,984-person increase since last year as the proportion of foreign populations within Japan continue to grow.

Nationally, for every 10,000 people in Japan, the average number of centenarians is 87.51. Prefectures with the highest average of them are Shimane with 186.65, Kochi with 169.52, and Tottori with 152.48. Prefectures with the fewest average of them are Saitama with 51.27, Aichi with 57.79, and Osaka with 60.06.

▼One present for every birthday would take up a lot of table space.

This new data is timely for Respect for the Aged Day, a public holiday in Japan celebrated this year on September 21. With many cities rethinking how to celebrate the birthdays of their older residents given the increasing numbers of them, we can only hope that Japan’s birthday candle business can also keep up with them all.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun Online via Kinisoku
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2)
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