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In Japan, our products help fill gaps in the health plans offered by the Japanese government or private employers. And those gaps are growing. To combat rising health care costs, copayments for Japan's national health insurance will increase for a majority of Japanese consumers from the current 20% level to 30% in April 2003. According to Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 17.4% of consumers were over age 65 in 2000. By 2025, that percentage is expected to rise to 28.7%. Because older citizens have greater health care needs, Japan's rapidly aging population will likely stress its health care system even more in coming years.
AFLAC's products help Japanese consumers cope with the increasing costs of medical care and treatment. We began our business in Japan by selling cancer life insurance, and we continue to be the leading seller of cancer policies. In fact, 21st Century Cancer Life remains the cornerstone of our product line. Cancer is the leading cause of death in Japan and a serious financial concern as well. However, the needs of Japan's consumers have changed over the years, so we have developed new products and updated existing ones to meet those needs. Not long ago, Japanese consumers sought coverage that would insure the risk of the earlier-than-expected death of the primary wage earner. Today, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with how to cover needs that will arise from living longer than expected.
To help meet the growing demand for "living benefits," we introduced a new medical product in 2002 called EVER. This product is basically a whole life, standalone version of our popular Rider MAX product. We developed EVER based on research that suggested Japanese consumers were becoming increasingly interested in medical insurance and were somewhat dissatisfied with their existing coverage. To date, EVER has been an unqualified success. We sold more than 480,600 EVER policies during the year. As a result, stand-alone supplemental medical insurance accounted for 17% of total new annualized premium sales in 2002, compared with just 1% in 2001.
In addition to EVER, we introduced a new whole life version of Rider MAX. This new product boosted Rider MAX sales dramatically in 2002 following a sales decline in 2001. We were pleasantly surprised that we generated more sales than expected from the conversion of term Rider MAX to the whole life Rider MAX product. The whole life Rider MAX guarantees the policyholder a level premium through the life of the contract. The significant amount of conversion activity during the year supports internal research we conducted in December 2002, indicating that 88% of Japanese consumers prefer whole life to term coverage.
 
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Rumiko Ebe, leader of new product development at the Kirin Brewery in Tokyo, helps compile marketing research and develop new products. Kirin is one of the many large companies in Japan that offer AFLAC products to their employees. Ms. Ebe, who has worked for Kirin for 17 years, says the company produces 20 types of beer at 11 factories throughout Japan.
Hanae Sudo, right, instructor manager of the Financial Planning Department at Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co., talks with Kumiko Nakayama, who is unit manager of the Metropolitan Consulting Sales Center at Dai-ichi Life. As part of the marketing alliance between Dai-ichi Life and AFLAC Japan, Dai-ichi Life's sales force sells AFLAC's cancer products. Ms. Sudo said Dai-ichi Life is very pleased with its relationship with AFLAC. She believes that Dai-ichi Life's sales of AFLAC's 21st Century Cancer Life policy help strengthen Dai-ichi Life's relationship with its clients. The alliance has benefited both companies as Dai-ichi Life's sales force sold more than 359,500 AFLAC cancer policies in 2002.
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