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http://europe.newsweek.com/turning-1...d-333495?rm=eu
Life expectany by country - List by the World Health Organization (2015)Getting old is getting old in Japan. The government has a tradition of presenting Japanese centenarians with the gift of a sakazuki, a silver sake cup, in the year they turn 100, but there are so many people hitting the milestone these days that the state is looking for a cheaper alternative.
In 1963, when Japan first recorded the country’s centenarian population, there were just 153 people 100 and over in the country. Five decades later, in 2015, there are 61,568 people that old, according to the Japanese Ministry of Labor, Health and Welfare.
That is 0.048 percent of the population, according to the U.N.’s Revision of World Population Prospects 2015 estimates, making Japan the country with the most centenarians per capita in the world. The United States has more centenarians, 71,972, but that represents only 0.022 percent of the population. Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Italy and Martinique have the next highest concentrations.
As of 2013, Japan had the highest average life expectancy in the world, with women living to an average of 86.3 years. Just over a quarter of Japan’s population is aged 65 and over, according to the World Bank, and the ministry has warned that an extra one million care workers must be found to cope with the aging population by 2025, when the share of people aged 65 and over is forecast to be 40 percent.
Ryuichi Kaneko, deputy director of Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, says that while there is no single decisive factor to explain the longevity of Japan’s population, it can be attributed to dietary patterns, the country’s universal health care system, an egalitarian society and a raison d’ętre among the elderly population, with many continuing to work after their official retirement.
The commemorative cups presented to Japan’s centenarians are valued at approximately $66. On September 15, Japan’s Seniors’ Day, the government sent the gift, as well as a signed letter from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to the 30,379 people turning 100 this year at a cost of around $2 million.
Concerned about that rising cost, the health ministry already reduced the size of the cup in 2009 from 4 inches in diameter to 3.5 inches. The government is now considering making the cup out of a less expensive metal, although a tin cup seems too cruel a choice.
Kaneko says the country’s aging population is putting a record strain on Tokyo’s health and social welfare bill. “Japan's ‘population onus’ is rapidly expanding,” he says, explaining that demand for social security is expanding because of the increase of the elderly while the supply of funds to pay for social security is shrinking because of the decrease of young, working people. “Social security costs are hitting a record high every year.”
The government predicts even more people, 39,000 in total, will turn 100 in 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ife_expectancy
Japan 83.7
Switzerland 83.4
Singapore 83.1
Australia 82.8
Spain 82.8
Iceland 82.7
Italy 82.7
Israel 82.5
Sweden 82.4
France 82.4
Rep.of Korea 82.3
Canada 82.2
Luxembourg 82.0
Netherlands 81.9
Norway 81.8
Malta 81.7
New Zealand 81.6
Austria 81.5
Ireland 81.4
United Kingdom 81.2
Belgium 81.1
Finland 81.1
Portugal 81.1
Germany 81.0
Greece 81.0
Slovenia 80.8
Denmark 80.6
Cyprus 80.5
Chile 80.5
Costa Rica 79.6
USA 79.3
Cuba 79.1
Czech Republic 78.8
Maldives 78.5
Qatar 78.2
Croatia 78.0
Albania 77.8
Panama 77.8
Brunei 77.7
Estonia 77.6
Poland 77.5
Bosnia 77.4
U.Arab Emirates 77.1
Uruguay 77.0
Bahrain 76.9
Mexico 76.7
Slovakia 76.7
Oman 76.6
Antigua 76.4
Argentina 76.3
Jamaica 76.2
Ecuador 76.2
China 76.1
Montenegro 76.1
Bahamas 76.1
Vietnam 76.0
Hungary 75.9
Turkey 75.8
Macedonia 75.7
Algeria 75.6
Serbia 75.6
Iran 75.5
Peru 75.5
Barbados 75.5
Tunisia 75.3
Saint Lucia 75.2
Malaysia 75.0
Romania 75.0
Brazil 75.0
Lebanon 74.9
Iraq 74.9
Thailand 74.9
Sri Lanka 74.9
Armenia 74.8
Nicaragua 74.8
Colombia 74.8
Kuwait 74.7
Honduras 74.6
Mauritius 74.6
Latvia 74.6
Saudi Arabia 74.5
Bulgaria 74.5
Georgia 74.4
Morocco 74.3
Jordan 74.1
Venezuela 74.1
Paraguay 74.0
Samoa 74.0
Dominican Rep. 73.9
Grenada 73.6
Lithuania 73.6
Tonga 73.5
El Salvador 73.5
Cabo Verde 73.3
Saint Vincent 73.2
Seychelles 73.2
Libya 72.7
Azerbaijan 72.7
Belarus 72.3
Moldova 72.1
Vanuatu 72.0
Guatemala 71.9
Bangladesh 71.8
Suriname 71.6
Ukraine 71.3
Trinidad 71.2
Kyrgyzstan 71.1
Egypt 70.9
Bolivia 70.7
North Korea 70.6
Russia 70.5
Kazakhstan 70.2
Belize 70.1
Fiji 69.9
Bhutan 69.8
Tajikistan 69.7
Micronesia 69.4
Uzbekistan 69.4
Solomon Isl. 69.2
Nepal 69.2
Indonesia 69.1
Mongolia 68.8
Cambodia 68.7
Philippines 68.5
India 68.3
Timor-Leste 68.3
Sao Tome 67.5
Senegal 66.7
Myanmar 66.6
Pakistan 66.4
Kiribati 66.3
Turkmenistan 66.3
Guyana 66.2
Rwanda 66.1
Gabon 66.0
Namibia 65.8
Yemen 65.7
Laos 65.7
Botswana 65.7
Madagascar 65.5
Ethiopia 64.8
Congo 64.7
Eritrea 64.7
Syria 64.5
Sudan 64.1
Comoros 63.5
Djibouti 63.5
Haiti 146 65.5
Kenya 63.4
Mauritania 63.1
Papua N.Guinea 62.9
South Africa 62.9
Ghana 62.4
Uganda 62.3
Niger 61.8
Tanzania 61.8
Zambia 61.8
Liberia 61.4
Gambia 61.1
Zimbabwe 60.7
Afghanistan 60.5
Benin 60.0
Burkina Faso 59.9
Togo 59.9
Congo 59.8
Burundi 59.6
Guinea 59.0
Guinea-Bissau 58.9
Swaziland 58.9
Malawi 58.3
Mali 58.2
Equat.Guinea 58.2
Mozambique 57.6
South Sudan 57.3
Cameroon 57.3
Somalia 55.0
Nigeria 54.5
Lesotho 53.7
Cote d'Ivoire 53.3
Chad 53.1
Cent. African R. 52.5
Angola 52.4
Sierra Leone 50.1
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