How healthy is Japan?

A count of every cancer newly found in 2023, from the National Cancer Center, and of every death in 2024, from the ministry's yearly statistics.

The cancer page gives the sources in full.

Sources: 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), がん統計 データダウンロード (cancer statistics, data downloads (national and prefecture counts 2016 to 2023, survival 2016 to 2018)), read 17 October 2026. 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 令和６年（2024）人口動態統計（確定数）の概況 (vital statistics for 2024, final figures), Table 8, read 17 October 2026.

• Tokyo74.6 in 100
• Japan, the same table59.7 in 100
• Hokkaido49.5 in 100

From the ministry's table by prefecture, whose own total is 59.7 in 100: it counts slightly fewer people checked than the national summary's 59.9. Two prefectures were read twice; the table has all 47.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 特定健診・特定保健指導の実施状況について（2023年度） (the check-up and health guidance, fiscal 2023), the table by prefecture, read 17 October 2026.

• Company health insurance societies82.9 in 100
• Mutual aid associations82.6 in 100
• Japan Health Insurance Association58.7 in 100
• Seafarers' insurance52.8 in 100
• National health insurance societies51.9 in 100
• Town and city national health insurance38.2 in 100

People insured through large companies' health insurance societies had the check-up far more often than people on their town's national health insurance.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 特定健診・特定保健指導の実施状況について（2023年度） (the check-up and health guidance, fiscal 2023), read 17 October 2026.

The ministry posted the fiscal 2024 figures on 30 July 2026, then stopped. Posting is temporarily suspended, in its words:

“数値の一部について、誤りが含まれている可能性があるため、現在、内容の精査を行っております。…確認作業が完了するまでの間、当該数値の掲載を一時的に中止しております。”

In English, Dooram's translation: “Because some figures may contain errors, the content is being examined… posting of the figures is temporarily suspended until the check is complete.”

So no 2024 figure is shown.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 2024年度 特定健康診査・特定保健指導の実施状況 ※掲載一時中止 (the check-up and health guidance, fiscal 2024, posting temporarily suspended), read 17 October 2026.

A check-up for people aged 40 to 74, run by their health insurer. The ministry adds up how many of those insured had it. The goal of 70 in 100 by fiscal 2023 is the government's.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 特定健診・特定保健指導の実施状況について（2023年度） (the check-up and health guidance, fiscal 2023), read 17 October 2026.

A national total of the children due each dose that year, and how many of them had it. The ministry calls the two rounds 第1期 and 第2期.

The worldwide figure is an estimate made the same way for every country, which is why the grade uses it. Dooram leads with Japan's own count.

Sources: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 麻しん風しんワクチン接種率全国集計結果 (measles and rubella vaccination, national totals), fiscal 2025, as of 1 April 2026, tables 1-1 and 1-2, read 17 October 2026. World Health Organization and UNICEF, United Nations Statistics Division, SDG Global Database, read 11 October 2026.

People's own answers to a national survey, so the card is marked Reported. Each cancer has its own ages and its own period; the cancer page lists them. The goal of 60 in 100 is in Japan's fourth basic plan for cancer, 2023.

Source: 国立がん研究センターがん情報サービス (National Cancer Center Japan, Cancer Information Service), がん検診受診率 (cancer screening rates), read 17 October 2026.

HPV stands for human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer of the cervix.

The ministry's word is 実施率, the rate of doses given in the year. Dooram reads it as that, not as the share of all girls who have had the vaccine.

81.9 is the nine-valent vaccine's first dose alone; the older two- and four-valent vaccines add 0.7 in the same year. The cancer page says why the rate fell, in the ministry's words.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 定期の予防接種実施者数 (routine vaccinations given), read 17 October 2026.

• People who smoke as a habit202414.8 in 100
• The upper blood pressure reading, on average2024, millimetres of mercury126.4

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 令和６年「国民健康・栄養調査」の結果 (National Health and Nutrition Survey, 2024), pages 17, 18 and 23 of the file, read 17 October 2026.

A national survey of what people eat and of their health. The salt target is the government's.

Source: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 令和６年「国民健康・栄養調査」の結果 (National Health and Nutrition Survey, 2024), read 17 October 2026.

The ministry's estimate of what was spent treating illness and injury that insurance could pay for. Dollars are converted by Dooram at the 2023 average rate of ¥140.49 to $1 (World Bank, from the IMF; the Federal Reserve gives ¥140.50); the ministry's fiscal 2023 runs April 2023 to March 2024, so the dollars are close, not exact.

Sources: 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 令和５(2023)年度 国民医療費の概況 (national medical care expenditure, fiscal 2023), Table 3, read 17 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 18 October 2026. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5A Foreign Exchange Rates (Annual), read 18 October 2026.

A count of people living where a waterworks supplies water. It says who is connected, not whether the water passed its tests.

The three lowest prefectures were read twice; the table has all 47.

The ministry in charge changed in 2024. The health ministry says:

“水道対策は、令和６年４月１日より、国土交通省及び環境省へ移管されました。”

In English, Dooram's translation: “Waterworks policy was transferred to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Ministry of the Environment from 1 April 2024.”

Sources: 国土交通省 (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), 水道の基本統計 (basic waterworks statistics, people served and the share served, 31 March 2025), 現在給水人口と水道普及率, as of 31 March 2025, read 17 October 2026. 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), 水道対策 (its page on waterworks), read 17 October 2026. WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, United Nations Statistics Division, SDG Global Database, read 11 October 2026.

The ministry's measure is 汚水処理人口普及率: the share of people whose waste water is treated.

Sources: 国土交通省 (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), 令和７年度末の汚水処理人口普及状況 (waste water treatment, end of fiscal 2025), read 17 October 2026. WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, United Nations Statistics Division, SDG Global Database, read 11 October 2026.

A follow-up survey, published on 25 December 2025, counted 19 suppliers over the level at some time from fiscal 2020 to the end of August 2025, against 14 in the first survey. It says 18 of them had acted and their newest tests were below it.

So none over in fiscal 2024 to 30 September and 14 ever over in the first survey; 19 ever over in the second.

Source: 国土交通省 and 環境省 (the land and environment ministries), 水道における PFOS 及び PFOA に関するフォローアップ調査の結果について (follow-up survey of PFOS and PFOA in tap water), page 2 of the file, read 17 October 2026.

PFAS are man-made chemicals that last a very long time in water and in the body. The two measured here are PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid).

The first survey says, of the suppliers over the level:

“令和２年度は 11 事業ありましたが、年々減少し、令和５年度は３事業、令和６年度（９月 30 日時点）は０事業でした。”

In English, Dooram's translation: “There were 11 in fiscal 2020, falling year by year; 3 in fiscal 2023 and 0 in fiscal 2024 (as of 30 September).”

Japan has 52 legal limits for tap water since 1 April 2026; PFOS and PFOA together became one of them that day.

Sources: 国土交通省 and 環境省 (the land and environment ministries), 水道における PFOS 及び PFOA に関する調査の結果について (survey of PFOS and PFOA in tap water), read 17 October 2026. 環境省 (Ministry of the Environment), 水質基準項目と基準値（52項目） (the 52 tap water standards and their limits), read 17 October 2026.

• Roadside stationsMet Japan's standard100 in 100
• Roadside stationsYearly average8.9
• Ozone and other oxidants that form in sunlightStations meeting Japan's standard0 in 100

No station, general or roadside, met the standard for ozone and the other oxidants.

Source: 環境省 (Ministry of the Environment), 令和６年度 大気汚染状況について (air pollution in fiscal 2024), read 17 October 2026.

Japan measures the air at general stations, away from traffic, and at roadside stations beside busy roads. The card leads with the general ones.

Japan's standard, in the ministry's words:

“１年平均値が15μg/m 3 以下であり、かつ、１日平均値が35μg/m 3 以下であること。”

In English, Dooram's translation: “The yearly average is 15 µg/m³ or less, and the daily average is 35 µg/m³ or less.”

The worldwide estimate comes from a model of the whole country, which is why it differs. Dooram leads with what was measured.

Sources: 環境省 (Ministry of the Environment), 令和６年度 大気汚染状況について (air pollution in fiscal 2024), read 17 October 2026. 環境省 (Ministry of the Environment), 微小粒子状物質に係る環境基準 (the environmental standard for fine particles, 9 September 2009), read 17 October 2026. World Health Organization, United Nations Statistics Division, SDG Global Database, read 11 October 2026.