Column 　Finance and the Social Security System 　2018.04.03

【Aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan】No.86: Cancer Mortality Rate by Gender and Prefecture

In this column series, Yukihiro Matsuyama, Research Director at CIGS introduces the latest information about aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan with data of international comparison.
Healthcare
Yukihiro MATSUYAMA
Yukihiro MATSUYAMA
Research Director

In December 2017, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare announced data on cancer death rates by gender and prefecture. Cancer mortality is defined as the number of deaths per 100,000 people under 74 years old. As shown in Figure 1, the cancer mortality rate has decreased greatly, but the difference between males and females is large. There are 47 prefectures in Japan. As shown in Figure 2, the difference among prefectures is also very large. Aomori prefecture has continued to have the worst cancer death rate after exceeding that of Osaka in 2004. In contrast, Nagano prefecture has had the lowest cancer death rate since 1995. The difference is believed to be due to lifestyle habits such as eating.


Figure 1 Number of cancer deaths per 100,000 people under 74 years old by gendert

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（Source）Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare



Figure 2 Number of cancer deaths per 100,000 people under 74 years old by prefecture

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