Average Age of Japanese Corporate Presidents Continues to Rise

The average age of corporate presidents in Japan has risen by 0.2 years to a new record high of 59.7, according to a 2019 nationwide report conducted by Teikoku Databank. The average age of listed company presidents was 58.9.

The survey was based on corporate overview data as of January 2019, excluding sole proprietors, nonprofit organizations, and public interest corporations. The data for 970,000 companies was compiled and analyzed by type of industry, classification, annual revenue, prefecture, and era of president’s birth.

By industry, real estate had the highest average age at 61.7 years old, followed by manufacturing at 61.1, and wholesale at 60.7. The youngest average age was 58.2 in the service industry.

A look at sectors within broader industries found high average ages for office rental (65.7), golf course management (65.6), land rental (65.6), coastal passenger shipping (65.0), and parking business (64.7). In contrast, lower ages could be found in communications supplementary services (48.2), child welfare business (48.5), and facilities providing chiropractic and related services (49.8).

Regarding annual revenue, presidents of companies with earnings of less than ¥100 million had the highest average age of 60.8 due to a greater proportion of them being 70 or over. Teikoku Databank suggests that smaller companies face difficulties in conducting business smoothly due to a lack of successors and that national and local government need to actively take measures to improve this situation.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)