Japan's centenarians to hit record high of over 25,600

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2005

TOKYO (AFP) — The number of Japanese aged 100 or older is set to reach a record high of more than 25,600 as the country remains at the top of the world in longevity, the government said.

As of the end of September, some 25,606 are expected to be aged 100 or older, up 2,568 from a year earlier, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

Women make up some 85 percent of the centenarians, rising 2,305 to 21,820 from a year earlier.

Yone Minagawa, a woman from Fukuoka prefecture in the southern island of Kyushu, is Japan's oldest person at 112. The oldest man is Nijiro Tokuda, at 110 the nation's 13th oldest person, from Kagoshima prefecture in Kyushu.

Okinawa, the southernmost Japanese island, has the highest proportion of centenarians among the...