The number of centenarians in Japan has topped 95,000, marking a record high for the 54th consecutive year.
The health and welfare ministry announced the figure based on the Basic Resident Register as of September 1. It said there were 95,119 people aged 100 or older, a rise of 2,980 from last year.
Women accounted for more than 88 percent of the total, at 83,958. There were 11,161 male centenarians.
The oldest woman in Japan was 116-year-old Itooka Tomiko of Ashiya City in Hyogo Prefecture. The oldest man was 110-year-old Mizuno Kiyotaka of Iwata City in Shizuoka Prefecture.
By prefecture, Shimane had the highest proportion, at 159.5 for every 100,000 people. It topped the list for 12 years in a row. Shimane was followed by Kochi and Kagoshima.
Saitama was at the bottom of the list for the 35th straight year, with 45.8 centenarians per 100,000 people. It was followed by Aichi and Chiba.
The ministry says there were 153 centenarians in 1963. The figure topped 1,000 in 1981 and first surpassed 10,000 in 1998.