Overview

• The Ministry of Health reports 99,763 people aged 100 or older as of September 2025, marking a record for the 55th consecutive year.
• Women account for roughly 88% of Japan’s centenarians, with 87,784 women and 11,979 men recorded.
• Japan’s oldest living person is Shigeko Kagawa, 114, from Nara Prefecture, and the oldest man is Kiyotaka Mizuno, 111, from Iwata.
• This year, 52,310 new centenarians received a commemorative silver cup and a letter from the prime minister on Elderly Day.
• The centenarian total has climbed from 153 in 1963 to 10,000 by 1998, and officials have tightened verification since a 2010 audit uncovered widespread registry errors.