Volume 26 - Article 11 | Pages 239-252
The mystery of Japan's missing centenarians explained
| Date received: | 21 May 2011 |
| Date published: | 28 Mar 2012 |
| Word count: | 1895 |
| Keywords: | centenarians, elderly, Japan, longevity, mortality |
| DOI: | 10.4054/DemRes.2012.26.11 |
Abstract
This report elucidates the issue of Japan’s missing centenarians, which was uncovered in 2010. We provide the latest figures from verification efforts, discuss sources of centenarian information in Japan, examine possible causes, and evaluate the effect of the missing centenarians on official statistics. In Japan 234,354 people registered before 1910 remained on the family registers in 2010, without being crossed out. They would have been 100 years old at least and represent 0.5% of the births recorded between 1872 and 1910. The impact of this group on life expectancy statistics, however, is effectively nil.
Author's Affiliation
Yasuhiko Saito - Nihon University, Japan
Vanessa Yong - Nihon University, Japan
Jean-Marie Robine - INSERM U988 & U710 - EPHE, France
Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research
»
Occupational inequalities in health expectancies in France in the early 2000s: Unequal chances of reaching and living retirement in good health
Volume 25 - Article 12
»
Arthur Roger Thatcher's contributions to longevity research: A Reflexion
Volume 22 - Article 18
»
The compression of deaths above the mode
Volume 22 - Article 17
»
Estimation of multi-state life table functions and their variability from complex survey data using the SPACE Program
Volume 22 - Article 6
»
Dissecting the compression of mortality in Switzerland, 1876-2005
Volume 21 - Article 19
»
Trends in healthy life expectancy in Japan: 1986 - 2004
Volume 20 - Article 19
»
Change in the Prevalence of Diseases Among Older Americans: 1984-1994
Volume 3 - Article 9
Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research
»
Exceptional Longevity in Okinawa: A Plea for In-depth Validation
Volume 25 - Article 7 | Keywords: centenarians, longevity, mortality
»
The number of centenarians in Brazil: Indirect estimates based on death certificates
Volume 20 - Article 20 | Keywords: centenarians, longevity, mortality
»
Arthur Roger Thatcher's contributions to longevity research: A Reflexion
Volume 22 - Article 18 | Keywords: centenarians, longevity
»
Human Biodemography: Some challenges and possibilities
Volume 19 - Article 43 | Keywords: elderly, mortality
»
Comparative mortality levels among selected species of captive animals
Volume 15 - Article 14 | Keywords: longevity, mortality
Articles
Citations
Cited References: 4
»View the references of this article
Download to Citation Manager
Similar Articles
PubMed
»Articles by Jean-Marie Robine
Google Scholar
»Articles by Jean-Marie Robine