ASHIYA, Hyōgo — With the world’s oldest person passing at 116 years old, Japan has been placed in the limelight for having the biggest number of centenarians as records show that more than 95,000 people in the islands were 100 or older—88 percent of whom were women.

In addition, of the country’s 124 million people, nearly a third or about 84 million individuals are senior citizens at 65 years old or more.

Women typically enjoy longevity in Japan, but the country is facing a worsening demographic crisis as its expanding elderly population leads to soaring medical and welfare costs, with a shrinking labor force to pay for it.

In 1963, Japan had 153 centenarians, when the country began recording the statistics. The number exceeded 1,000 in 1981, 10,000 in 1998, 50,000 in 2012 and 90,000 in 2022.

The number of centenarians among each 100,000 people in the population was calculated to be at rating of 76.49 percent. Among Japan's 47 prefectures, the rate was highest in Shimane, at 159.54, followed by Kochi at 154.20 and Kagoshima at 130.73.

The rate was lowest in Saitama at 45.81, followed by Aichi at 48.80 and Chiba at 52.60.

The world's oldest person, Itooka Tomiko died at a nursing home in Ashiya City in the Prefecture of Hyōgo in southwestern Japan where she resided since 2019. She left four children and five grandchildren.

Itooka was recognized as the oldest person in the world after the August 2024 death of Spain’s Maria Branyas Morera at age 117.

According to Ashiya mayor Takashima Ryōsuke, Itooka was born on May 23, 1908 in the commercial hub of Osaka, near Ashiya—four months before the Ford Model T automobile was launched in the United States.
“Ms Itooka gave us courage and hope through her long life,” Takashima enthused.

“We thank her for it,” Ashiya's 27-year-old mayor added.

The erstwhile oldest living person was one of three siblings who was fortunate enough to live through two world wars, the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, pandemics and technological breakthroughs.

As a student, Itooka played volleyball and in her adulthood, she enjoyed bananas and drank a lot of the milky soft drink popular in Japan known as Calpis.

According to the US Gerontological Research Group and LongeviQuest, with Itooka’s death, the world’s oldest person is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born on June 8, 1908.