Life Expectancy by Prefecture in JapanThe Latest Ranking, With Shiga First for Men, Okayama First for Women and a 3.46-Year Gap to Aomori

Is life expectancy where you live long or short compared with the rest of Japan? News stories mention "long-lived prefectures", but they rarely say which statistics the figures come from, which years they cover or how they were calculated.

This article uses the latest edition of the Prefectural Life Tables, which Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare compiles every five years (the 2020 tables, published in December 2022), to rank all 47 prefectures by life expectancy for men and women^[1]. It also looks at how the order changes by age, trends since 1965, the difference from healthy life expectancy, and the latest national figures from the annual abridged life table for 2025.

1. The short answer: Shiga leads for men at 82.73 years, Okayama for women at 88.29, and Aomori is last for both

• Shiga ranks first for men at 82.73 years. Nagano is second (82.68) and Nara third (82.40)^[4].
• Okayama ranks first for women at 88.29 years. Shiga is second (88.26) and Kyoto third (88.25). Only 0.07 years separate first place from fifth-placed Kumamoto (88.22).
• Aomori is 47th for both men and women, at 79.27 years for men and 86.33 for women.
• The gap between first and 47th is 3.46 years for men and 1.96 years for women.
• The national figure (as calculated in the prefectural tables) is 81.49 years for men and 87.60 for women. For both sexes, 22 prefectures exceed it.

The latest prefectural tables are for 2020; the latest national figures are for 2025

The ministry publishes three kinds of life tables^[3].

The prefectural tables have been produced every five years since 1965, and the 2020 edition is the 12th. Because yearly death counts in small prefectures fluctuate by chance, the 2020 tables use three years of deaths (2019–2021) together with population from the 2020 census^[3]. The ranking in this article therefore reflects mortality around 2019–2021.

The next edition, based on the 2025 census (the 2025 Prefectural Life Tables), had not been published as of October 2026^[11]. Until it is, the 2020 edition remains the latest prefectural data.

The national figures in the prefectural tables (81.49 for men, 87.60 for women) are calculated the same way as the prefectures for comparison, so they differ slightly from the 2020 complete life table (81.56 for men, 87.71 for women)^[12]. For the national level, the complete or abridged life tables are the appropriate source^[3].

The latest national figures: 81.35 years for men and 87.33 for women in 2025

The 2025 abridged life table (published 24 July 2026), which gives national figures every year, puts life expectancy at 81.35 years for men and 87.33 for women, up 0.25 and 0.20 years from the previous year^[13]. Broken down by cause of death, changes in mortality from cancer (malignant neoplasms), heart disease and COVID-19 pushed life expectancy up, while pneumonia and senility pushed it down^[14].

After 81.56 years for men and 87.71 for women in 2020, national life expectancy fell to 81.05 and 87.09 in 2022. The ministry attributed the decline to changes in mortality from COVID-19, heart disease and senility, among others^[16]. The 2025 figures are recovering but have not yet returned to the 2020 level.

In international comparisons, which the ministry says cannot be exact because countries calculate differently, Japanese women ranked first and Japanese men seventh among the data the ministry obtained (Sweden led for men at 82.52 years)^[13].

Life expectancy is not the average age at death

Life expectancy means the average number of years a newborn can expect to live (life expectancy at age 0). It assumes that the death rate at each age in a given period stays the same, so it is not affected by an area's age structure and reflects mortality only^[3]. A prefecture does not get a higher figure simply because it has many older residents.

More people live beyond life expectancy than not. In the 2025 abridged life table, the age by which exactly half of those born have died (the median length of life) is 84.13 for men and 90.17 for women, nearly three years above life expectancy. The share who live to 90 is 26.7% for men and 50.8% for women^[15].

2. The full ranking: Kinki, Chubu and Chugoku at the top, Tohoku and northern Kanto at the bottom

Figures are in years, from Table 1 of the ministry's summary of the 2020 Prefectural Life Tables^[4]. Where displayed values are equal (for example Okayama and Gifu at 81.90 for men), the order is decided by further decimal places.

Prefectures near the top for both sexes, and for only one

Shiga, Nagano and Kyoto are in the top four for both sexes: Shiga is first for men and second for women, Nagano second and fourth, and Kyoto fourth and third.

Other prefectures rank very differently by sex. Nara is third for men but 11th for women, and Kanagawa fifth for men but 15th for women. Conversely, Okayama, first for women, is 10th for men, and Shimane, sixth for women, is 20th for men. The biggest difference is in Okinawa: 16th for women but 43rd for men.

Tokyo is 14th for men (81.77) and 17th for women (87.86), just above the national figure but outside the top ten. Osaka is 41st for men and 36th for women. Tokyo, which tops the ranking of average salary by prefecture, sits in the middle here: income rankings and life expectancy rankings do not line up.

The bottom: Aomori is more than a year behind 46th place

The bottom five for men are Aomori, Akita, Fukushima, Iwate and Okinawa; for women, Aomori, Fukushima, Tochigi, Ibaraki and Iwate. Tohoku prefectures dominate, and for women Tochigi and Ibaraki in northern Kanto also appear.

What stands out is the distance between 47th-placed Aomori and 46th place. For men, there are 1.21 years between Akita (80.48) and Aomori (79.27). The gap from first to 46th is 2.25 years, so about a third of the overall 3.46-year gap lies between Aomori and the other prefectures. For women, the gap between 46th-placed Fukushima and Aomori is 0.48 years.

The gender gap: largest in Okinawa at 7.15 years, smallest in Shiga at 5.53

Women's life expectancy minus men's is 6.11 years nationally. The largest gap is in Okinawa (7.15 years), followed by Kochi (7.06) and Aomori (7.05). The smallest are Shiga (5.53), Nara (5.54) and Nagano (5.55)^[4]. Prefectures where men live longer tend to have smaller gaps.

3. By age the order shifts: Okinawa's men go from 43rd at birth to 2nd at age 75

The prefectural tables give life expectancy not only at birth but also at ages 20, 40, 65 and 75 (the average number of remaining years for people of that age)^[5].

Aomori is 47th at every age for both sexes. Its life expectancy at 65 is 18.51 years for men and 23.92 for women, 1.38 and 0.85 years below the national figures.

Okinawa: deaths at working ages likely pull down the figure at birth

The biggest shift is among Okinawa's men. They rank 43rd at ages 0, 20 and 40, but rise to 15th at 65 and second at 75 (12.93 years). Okinawa's women are 16th at birth but first at 65 and 75.

Life expectancy at birth combines death rates at every age, from children to the very old. Life expectancy at 75 reflects only what happens after 75. Okinawa being near the top for remaining years in old age, yet near the bottom at birth, likely reflects relatively more deaths before 65 pulling down the figure at birth. The ministry's summary also names Okinawa, Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Kochi as prefectures whose rank at 75 is much higher than at birth^[4]. For men, Kagoshima rises from 38th at birth to 13th at 75, Miyazaki from 31st to 12th, and Kochi from 42nd to 24th.

Prefectures that fall: Aichi, Fukui, Toyama and Ishikawa

In the other direction, men in Aichi fall from 13th at birth to 35th at 75, Fukui from seventh to 29th, Toyama from 15th to 34th and Ishikawa from sixth to 23rd. For women, Mie falls from 24th to 40th and Shiga from second to 14th.

One reading is that low death rates among young and working-age people lift these prefectures' life expectancy at birth, while remaining years in old age are around the national level. Even among "long-lived prefectures", the ages at which the differences arise vary.

4. 55 years of change: Shiga rose from 27th to first, Okinawa fell from first to 43rd, and Aomori has been last for nearly half a century

The 2020 summary includes life expectancy for every prefecture since 1965^[6]. Over these 55 years, national life expectancy rose by about 14 years for men and 15 for women. The tables below show the first and last places in each edition, by sex.

Men

Women

The 1965 figures cover 46 prefectures, excluding Okinawa. Hyogo's 1995 figures were affected by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (excluding its effect, the figure for women is 82.68)^[6]. In 2015, Nagano and Okayama were both 87.67 for women, and Nagano ranked first on further decimal places (87.675 against 87.673)^[2].

Looking at the top three in earlier editions: in 2010 they were Nagano (80.88), Shiga (80.58) and Fukui (80.47) for men, and Nagano (87.18), Shimane (87.07) and Okinawa (87.02) for women^[10]. In 2015 they were Shiga (81.78), Nagano (81.75) and Kyoto (81.40) for men^[9], and Nagano, Okayama (both 87.67) and Shimane (87.64) for women. The leading group has changed considerably over ten years.

Prefectures whose rank moved most

• Shiga (men): 27th in 1965, second in 2005 and 2010, and first in 2015 and 2020. Its women also rose from 31st in 1965 to second in 2020.
• Nagano (men): in the top ten in all 12 editions, and first five times in a row from 1990 to 2010. Only Nagano and Kanagawa have been in the men's top ten every time^[6].
• Okayama (women): the only prefecture in the women's top ten every time. It was also first in 1970, so 2020 was its first time at the top in 50 years.
• Okinawa: first for men in 1980 and 1985, but 26th in 2000 and 43rd in 2020. Its women were first seven times in a row from 1975 to 2005, then third in 2010, seventh in 2015 and 16th in 2020.
• Aomori: 47th for men ten times in a row since 1975, and 47th for women five times in a row since 2000.
• Tokyo: first for both sexes in 1965, but 14th for men and 17th for women in 2020.

2015 to 2020: life expectancy rose in every prefecture

Between 2015 and 2020, life expectancy rose for both sexes in every prefecture^[6]. Nationally it rose 0.72 years for men and 0.60 for women.

The largest gains were in Tottori (1.17 years), Toyama (1.13) and Wakayama (1.09) for men, and Kyoto (0.89), Wakayama (0.88) and Hyogo (0.84) for women. The smallest were Okinawa (0.46) for men and Niigata (0.25) for women. Aomori gained 0.61 years for men and 0.39 for women, less than the national gains, so its distance from other prefectures did not shrink.

The gap between longest and shortest narrowed, then widened again

Over the long run, the gap between first and last has narrowed: for men from 4.52 years in 1965 to 3.11 in 2015, and for women from 3.86 years in 1985 to 1.74 in 2015. In 2020, however, it widened for both sexes, from 3.11 to 3.46 years for men and from 1.74 to 1.96 for women. The top figure rose from 81.78 to 82.73 years for men (Shiga both times) and from 87.67 (Nagano) to 88.29 (Okayama) for women, while last-placed Aomori gained only 0.61 and 0.39 years, less than the national gains.

5. Compared with healthy life expectancy: the longest-lived prefectures are not the ones with the longest healthy years

Healthy life expectancy, the average period lived without limits on daily activities, is often used alongside life expectancy. Japan's national health promotion plan, Health Japan 21 (third term), uses values for 2022 calculated by a health ministry research group as its baseline^[17].

National healthy life expectancy is 72.57 years for men and 75.45 for women. The difference from life expectancy in the same year (81.05 for men, 87.09 for women), that is, the average period with some limits on daily life, is 8.49 years for men and 11.63 for women. Compared with the previous values for 2019 (72.68 for men, 75.38 for women), no statistically significant difference was found^[17].

Healthy life expectancy by prefecture: Shizuoka is first for both sexes

The prefectures with the longest life expectancy are not necessarily at the top for healthy life expectancy. Shiga, first for men's life expectancy, is near the top at 73.19 years, but Nagano's men are mid-table at 72.73. For women, first-placed Okayama is at 75.67 and Shiga at 75.82, both some way behind the top three^[17].

Conversely, in Aomori, which has the shortest life expectancy for both sexes, men's healthy life expectancy of 72.03 years is only slightly below the national 72.57. Aomori also has the shortest period with limits on daily life for men, 7.14 years, more than two years shorter than the longest: Hyogo (9.48), Nagano (9.47) and Kyoto (9.44). For women, the shortest such period is in Shizuoka (10.31 years) and the longest in Kanagawa (12.99)^[17].

Don't over-read small differences in rank

Healthy life expectancy is estimated by combining responses to the Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions with mortality statistics, and it includes calculation error. The source notes that comparisons should take the 95% confidence intervals into account^[17].

For example, the 95% confidence interval for first-placed Shizuoka (men) is 73.22–74.27 years and for last-placed Iwate 70.11–71.76, so the top and bottom clearly differ. Mid-table prefectures, however, often have overlapping intervals, and a few places' difference in rank means little. Indeed, Aomori women went from 76.05 years in 2019 to 75.02 in 2022, and Kyoto women from 73.68 to 75.78, moves of more than a year between editions.

The healthy life expectancy figures here are for 2022, while the prefectural life tables reflect mortality in 2019–2021, so the years and methods differ. This article does not subtract one table from the other to get a prefecture-by-prefecture "life expectancy minus healthy life expectancy".

National goals: longer healthy lives and smaller gaps between prefectures

Health Japan 21 (third term), covering fiscal 2024 to 2035, sets two goals^[17].

• Extending healthy life expectancy: healthy life expectancy should increase by more than life expectancy does.
• Reducing health disparities: the average for the bottom quarter of prefectures should increase by more than the average for the top quarter.

In the 2022 baseline, the top quarter averages 73.27 years for men and 76.12 for women and the bottom quarter 71.75 and 74.77, gaps of 1.51 and 1.35 years. A mid-term evaluation will use 2028 values and the final evaluation 2031 values.

6. Possible reasons behind the differences, and how to read the numbers

Causes of death: Aomori has a higher probability of dying from cancer

The prefectural tables also give the probability that a newborn will eventually die of each cause^[7]. These are life-table calculations and differ from the actual share of deaths.

Aomori has the fourth-highest probability of dying from cancer for men and the third-highest for women, and the second-highest probability of suicide for men. In the calculation of how much life expectancy would rise if cancer were eliminated, Aomori's gain is also larger than the national one: 3.85 years for men (Japan 3.51) and 3.13 for women (Japan 2.84)^[8]. Aomori's shorter life expectancy is likely linked to relatively more deaths at younger ages, with cancer at the centre.

Nagano, meanwhile, has a higher probability of dying of senility than the national figure for both sexes. That does not mean Nagano residents live longer because senility is common there. When many people live long, the share who die of senility in old age naturally rises. Death probabilities describe how deaths are distributed across causes.

What the statistics cannot tell us

Many factors could lie behind the differences between prefectures: diet, smoking and drinking, exercise, health check-ups, access to medical care, work and income, and more. But the life tables used here describe mortality; they do not show which factors matter or by how much. Differences cannot be explained by a single reason such as "people here eat X", and establishing cause and effect requires other research.

Living in a prefecture does not make you live longer

Life expectancy summarises mortality among a prefecture's residents; it does not show that moving there would change anyone's lifespan. Also, 0.01 years is about 3.7 days. The gap between first and fifth place for women (0.07 years) is less than a month, so small differences in rank near the top should not be read as large differences.

For thinking about yourself or your family, the national figures by age are more useful than prefectural rankings. In the 2025 abridged life table, life expectancy at 65 is 19.68 years for men and 24.52 for women, and at 75 still 12.24 and 15.88 years^[14]. The share of people who live to 65 is 89.9% for men and 94.5% for women^[15].

This article introduces published statistics and is not medical or health advice. If you have concerns about your health, please consult a doctor or your local government's health services. Figures are from statistics published as of October 2026.

References

1. [1]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2020 Prefectural Life Tables (published 23 December 2022) (Japanese). MHLW ↩
2. [2]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, press release on the 2020 Prefectural Life Tables (23 December 2022) (Japanese). MHLW ↩
3. [3]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2020 Prefectural Life Tables: about the prefectural life tables (types of life table, source data, national figures) (Japanese). MHLW ↩
4. [4]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2020 Prefectural Life Tables, section 1: life expectancy by prefecture (Table 1 life expectancy, Table 2 life expectancy at main ages, Table 3 gender gap) (Japanese). MHLW ↩
5. [5]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2020 Prefectural Life Tables, statistical table 1: life expectancy at main ages (Japanese). MHLW ↩
6. [6]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2020 Prefectural Life Tables, statistical table 2: life expectancy over time, 1965–2020 (Japanese). MHLW ↩
7. [7]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2020 Prefectural Life Tables, reference 1: probability of death by cause (Japanese). MHLW ↩
8. [8]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2020 Prefectural Life Tables, reference 2: gains in life expectancy if specific causes of death were eliminated (Japanese). MHLW ↩
9. [9]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2015 Prefectural Life Tables (Japanese). MHLW ↩
10. [10]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2010 Prefectural Life Tables (Japanese). MHLW ↩
11. [11]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Life tables: summaries of results (list of published abridged, complete and prefectural life tables) (Japanese). MHLW ↩
12. [12]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 23rd Life Tables (complete life tables) (published 2 March 2022) (Japanese). MHLW ↩
13. [13]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2025 Abridged Life Table (published 24 July 2026) and press release (Japanese). MHLW ↩
14. [14]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2025 Abridged Life Table, section 1: life expectancy at main ages (Japanese). MHLW ↩
15. [15]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2025 Abridged Life Table, section 2: median length of life and survival in the life table (Japanese). MHLW ↩
16. [16]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Summary of the 2022 Abridged Life Table, section 1: life expectancy at main ages (Japanese). MHLW ↩
17. [17]Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Health Division, "Healthy life expectancy: 2022 values", document 1-1 for the 4th meeting of the Health Japan 21 (third term) Promotion Committee (24 December 2024). Healthy life expectancy calculated by the health ministry research project on the next health promotion plan (principal investigator: Ichiro Tsuji) (Japanese). MHLW ↩