I spotted an interesting factoid on Twitter this morning, courtesy of @BagsOfVintage:
Another interesting fact – Japan has over 50,000 people that are over 100 years old
— Toni Turner (@BagsofVintage) September 17, 2013
This immediately resulted in my carrying out some fact-checking.
I’m always cynical about ‘facts’ posted on social networks; just this morning I saw someone sharing a Daily Mail story about heavy snow arriving in the UK next month, failing to notice it was published in September 2011.
But this snippet of knowledge, to the best of my knowledge, is accurate.
The latest figures I can find say that official Japanese government data found over 50,000 Japanese people are aged 100 or over.
According to an article in The Guardian this time last year:
“The health and welfare ministry survey shows the number of centenarians will rise to 51,376 by Saturday, up 3,620 from last year.”
There are some other interesting facts about Japanese life expectancy in that article.
Women account for 87% of Japan’s centenarians, although their average life expectancy fell by 0.4 years to 85.9 in 2011.
Back in 1963, when this survey began, there were only 153 centenarians in Japan. As recently as 1998, the number was around 10,000.
This suggests a dramatic growth in the number of people living to and beyond their 100th birthdays.
So just how do you go about living to over 100?
Another article in The Guardian, this time from July 2004, suggested a low-fat diet, strong community ties, affordable healthcare and generous pensions were key to improved longevity in Japan.
Can you emulate this here in the UK?
The BBC were reporting this morning that US researchers have found a reversal of cell ageing as a result of a strict regime of exercise, diet and meditation.
Our diet, exercise and exposure to stress is all (to a large extent) within our control. We have free at the point of need healthcare in the UK and creating strong community ties is also well within our own control.
Where we possibly fall behind the Japanese is with our less than generous State pension system, providing little more than a safety-net income level rather than anything to write home about.
Funding for a generous income in retirement is therefore our own personal responsibility; something we must each include with our own Financial Plans and allocate sufficient financial resources throughout a lengthy working lifetime to achieve.
Of course getting to age 100 is one thing – receiving a telegram from the Queen and still being in good shape, with enough income and assets to support our needs, is quite another.
This doesn’t happen by accident. Instead, it is something we must each work hard to realise.
