Does Australia's favourite travel destination hold the secret to a longer life?

This article contains a reference to suicide.

Long famous for the longevity of its citizens, Japan surpassed a record 100,000 people aged 100 or older this year.

According to the country's health, labour and welfare ministry, Japan's number of centenarians increased for the 56th consecutive year to 107,677 — 88 per cent of whom were women.

Ageing populations are increasing worldwide, including in Australia, where life expectancy, already the third-highest in the world behind Monaco and Japan, is expected to climb over the next 40 years.

According to the Australian government's latest Intergenerational Report, released on Monday, Australia's ageing population is expected to transform the economy.

As we look to a future with an older population and a longer life expectancy, what lessons can Australia take from Japan?

Henry Brodaty, Scientia professor of ageing and mental health at the University of New South Wales, said there were some obvious differences between Japan and Australia, notably the former's healthier lifestyle: Japanese people largely eat fewer high-fat and ultra-processed foods.

"They eat a lot of fish, which has been associated with a better diet and a lower risk of dementia," Brodaty told SBS News.

He said that social isolation and alcohol intake, both risk factors for dementia, were lower in Japan than in Australia, though Japan had high rates of high blood pressure and vascular disease. Stress levels were also much higher than Australia's.

"In fact, our suicide rate is about 12 to 100,000," Brodaty said. "And theirs is about 16 to 100,000."

Urban supports for longevity

Professor Marco Amati from RMIT University's Centre for Urban Research said Japan has elderly care baked into its urban planning.

"One of the biggest challenges for Australia is to do with aged care facilities, which have many issues; notably, there was a royal commission into that," he told SBS News.

Amati said Japan was good at providing end-of-life care for the elderly, with a clear commitment to providing social housing, public transport, and amenities to a high enough standard as to allow people to "age in place". Amati described this as the "Holy Grail", the "most dignified way to age".

"Everybody would prefer to remain at home, surrounded by your community, age in place, and pass away in a familiar environment," he said.

"If you have a situation where people own their own home, and they have to sell their house to go into aged care, that can be very traumatic."

By contrast, in Japan, housing communities are set up to allow ageing in place, including in rental accommodation or in public housing, and for people with early-onset dementia.

In such places, technological advancements have enabled the monitoring of elderly residents in non-obtrusive ways, ensuring that any end-of-life incidents do not go unnoticed — a common issue for elderly people with few surviving relatives.

Amati said that while similar housing approaches may not be achievable in Australia, they were still useful to know about.

"In Australia it's a whole different mix," he said. "But having that kind of a commitment or even knowing that it exists is useful to know."

Australia's biggest threat to long life

The biggest threat to long life in Australia is dementia, which in 2024 overtook cancer and heart disease to become Australia's biggest killer nationally.

Brodaty quoted recent figures from a US study published in the journal Nature: for people aged 55, the lifetime risk of dementia was 42 per cent.

"It's a scary statistic," Brodaty said.

The earlier people embrace brain health, the higher their chances of living longer. Importantly, Brodaty says, their chances of maintaining good lifetime cognition were higher, too.

"Eating a diet that's rich in vegetables, legumes, extra virgin olive oil, fish, lesser amounts of red meat and sweets, lesser amounts of processed food, watching their blood pressure and getting it checked and treated if it's high," were the best practices, Brodaty said.

Keeping socially connected and having purpose in life were also important. People who live longer "have something that drives them to live and feel valued".

Importantly, Brodaty said there were many simple ways to reduce your chances of getting dementia by almost half.

"We cannot smoke; we can avoid head injury if we can, avoid or treat diabetes. We know that people who have more exposure to green spaces and blue spaces also have a lower rate of dementia," Brodaty said.

"Eating well, remaining socially connected, keeping our brains active, using our brains, being physically active. Exercise is one of the best things we can do for our health in multiple ways."

Living longer, but at what cost?

But the comparison between Australia and Japan can only go so far, Brodaty said.

"We have to consider the demography of the two countries. Australia has 26,270,000 people. Japan has over 100,000,000 people."

Japan's long-lived, ageing population underscores a severe demographic crisis. It's part of the reason the number of centenarians seems "distorted", Brodaty said.

Japan has had a dwindling birth rate and ageing population for decades.

"This is really quite a crisis for Japan economically, because the number of people of working age, proportionately, is decreasing, and the number of people of working age who can look after older people is shrinking."

In Japan, there are roughly two working-age people for every elderly person aged 65 or older.

"Imagine that if we have only one person of working age to help support every older person," Brodaty asked. "How could we possibly arrange our society to deal with that?"

Brodaty said that while this would be an increasing crisis, there was a way to avert it.

"That is to try to help people live their lifespan healthily," he said. "So we talk about healthspan and lifespan, and that gap is what we're trying to narrow."

Readers seeking crisis support can ring Lifeline on 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14, the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 and Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged up to 25). More information and support with mental health is available at beyondblue.org.au and on 1300 22 4636.

Embrace Multicultural Mental Health supports people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

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