Hundreds of thousands of Japanese registered as being over 100 are unaccounted for
September 10th, 2010 - 5:11 pm ICT by BNO NewsTOKYO (BNO NEWS) — Hundreds of thousands of people across Japan are unaccounted for even though they are registered as being alive and more than 100 years old, the country’s Ministry of Justice said on Friday.
The Ministry announced the numbers after a nationwide survey on elderly people who are unaccounted for. It showed that a total of 234,354 people are registered to be alive at the age of over 100 years, even though their current whereabouts are unknown.
Among this vast number of unaccounted citizens, 77,118 people would be more than 120 years old if they were alive today. 884 people would be more than 150 years old.
Some of the unaccounted centenarians may have died during World War II in combat, the Ministry said as it tried to explain the long list of supposed centenarians. Other unaccounted people may have gone missing without their families informing local authorities.
The eldest confirmed human in the world is French woman Jeanne Calment. She was 122 years and 164 days old when she passed away on August 4, 1997. Other people have claimed to be older than Calment, but those claims have never been verified.
Tags: 100 years, august 4, bno, calment, centenarians, citizens, french woman, hundreds of thousands, japan, local authorities, ministry of justice, tokyo, vast number, world war ii