Japan is the country with the most centenarians, with over 92,000.

In Japan, the number of people aged 100 has reached a record level: the world's third-largest economy now has 92,139 people aged 100 or over. That's 1,613 more than a year ago, reported the Ministry of Health in Tokyo on Friday.

 

For over half a century, the number of people aged 100 has been rising every year. Due to a low birth rate and almost non-existent immigration, no other industrial state is aging as fast as this East Asian country.

 

Japan's population is also shrinking at a record pace. Last year, the number of Japanese fell by 801,000, the biggest drop since comparable data have been recorded. There are now 122.4 million.

  

When the Japanese Ministry of Health began compiling statistics in 1963, there were 153 centenarians. Twenty-five years later, there were over 10,000. According to the latest figures, around 88% of centenarians are women. Japan has the longest life expectancy in the world. Life expectancy for women is around 87 years, and 81 for men.