Overview
- The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published the 2025 simplified life table on July 24, 2026, showing female life expectancy at 87.33 years and male life expectancy at 81.35 years.
- Both sexes gained ground year on year with women up 0.20 years and men up 0.25 years according to the government figures.
- Japan’s women remain first in the world for life expectancy while Japanese men fell to seventh place from sixth as other high‑income countries recorded higher male longevity.
- The 2025 birth cohort’s projected lifetime probabilities of dying from cancer, heart disease and stroke fell to 39.70% for women and 45.03% for men, reflecting small improvements in those causes.
- The simplified life table is a standard demographic tool that applies current age-specific death rates to estimate period life expectancy and inform planning for healthcare demand, pensions and elder services.