Tokyo, September 13:

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 today.

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, Labour and Welfare said. Women make up some 85 per cent of the centenarians, rising 2,305 to 21,820 from a year earlier. Yone Minagawa, a woman from Fukuoka prefecture in the 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 nation’s 47 prefectures with 51.43 per 100,000 people, far higher than the national average of 20.05. Japan, with its traditional healthy diet and high standard of medical care, has seen its centenarian population steadily grow.