30% of Japanese population are Senior Citizens.

Sept 2025 : The share of Japan’s Senior Citizens aged 65 or older reached a record 29.4% of its population, the highest among nations with populations of over 40 million, the government estimated on Sunday.

Of the 36.19 million elderlies in the rapidly aging country, those with jobs rose to a record 9.3 million for the 21^st. straight year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said, as Japan marks Respect for the Aged Day on Monday. The ratio means one in seven workers in Japan is elderly. The industrial safety and health law, revised in May, obliges companies to improve working conditions for senior employees as the risk of work-related injuries rises with age.

While Japan’s population aged 65 or older totaled 15.68 million men and 20.51 million women, the combined figure was 50,000 fewer than a year earlier, the ministry said. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research projects Japan’s senior population will climb to 39.28 million in 2040, or 34.8% of the total, underscoring demographic pressures as the 1971-74 second baby boom generation enters old age.

Among countries with populations of 40 million or more, Italy trails Japan with 25.1% aged 65 or older, followed by Germany at 23.7%. Japan showed a particularly high rate of people aged 75 or older at 17.2%, compared with other nations with large senior populations, according to the government.

The ministry also said most elderly workers in 2024 were part-time or contract employees, with many employed in wholesale and retail businesses.

The population of Japanese nationals stood at 120.3 million as of October 2024, down a record 898,000 from a year earlier, a government estimate showed Monday, amid the graying of society and a declining birthrate.

The number of people aged 100 or older in Japan was estimated at a record 95,119 in September, marking an increase for the 54th year in a row, health ministry data showed Tuesday. The total number of centenarians as of 10^th. September was up 3340 from a year earlier, with females accounting for 88.5% at 83,958, the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry said.

Japan boasts one of the most rapidly aging populations in the world and also the world’s oldest person as in August 117 years old Tomiko Itooka was recognised by the book of Guinness World Records. The resident of Hyogo Prefecture was born on May 23, 1908.

Male centenarians totaled 11,161, with the oldest man being 111 years old Kiyotaka Mizuno. Mizuno, a resident of Shizuoka Prefecture, was born on March 14, 1914.

The average number of centenarians per 100,000 people in Japan stood at 76.49.

The ministry said that the average life expectancy in the country rose to 88% for women and 82% for men in 2025, rising for the first time in three years apparently due to the waning impact of COVID-19.

The number of centenarians in Japan stood at 153 in 1963, when data were first collected. The figure surpassed 1,000 in 1981 and topped the 10,000 marks in 1998, in part due to medical advances.

“We will strive to enhance social welfare services including medical and nursing care so that the elderly can continue to live comfortably in their own community“, a health ministry spokesperson said.

Team Maverick