The Japanese are getting old and having fewer children, which has major consequences for the country's demographics. According to fresh figures from national authorities, a third of the country's population is now over 65 years old. On September 1 this year, there were 95,119 centenarians in the country, and over 80 percent of them are women.
Japan is heading into a population crisis as the elderly steadily increase in number, leading to increased costs for welfare while the working population decreases.
The birth rate is also low, and in 2023, an average of 1.20 children per woman were born. Japan's total population is 124 million.
It is also in Japan that the world's oldest living person, Tomiko Itooka, resides. She was born on May 23, 1908, and is thus 116 years old.
