The land of the rising sun is also the land of a quickly aging population.
Japan has 58,820 centenarians, or people who are at least 100 years old, The Associated Press reports. On Monday, the government released the numbers in honor of Respect-for-the-Aged Day.
A Japanese woman, Misao Okawa, is the oldest person in the world at 116. The world's oldest man, 111-year-old Sakari Momoi, also hails from Japan. Nearly 90 percent of Japan's centenarians are women, and the country has some of the highest average life expectancies: 86.61 years for women and 80.21 for men.
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In 2013, there were 441,000 centenarians around the globe, and that number will likely climb up to 3.4 million by 2050, the United Nations says. Improved health care is likely a reason why longevity is increasing around the world.
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