Seniors accounted for 28.4 percent of Japan's population and 12.9 percent of its labor force in 2018, both record highs, government data showed Sunday.

The number of citizens aged 65 or older in the country, which has the world's oldest population, stood at 35.88 million, up 320,000 from a year earlier, according to data released by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry prior to Monday's Respect for the Aged Day holiday.

The ratio of seniors remained well above 23 percent in Italy, the second most aged society, and 22.4 percent in Portugal which came third.