Over 10% of Japan’s population is now 80 years old or older, according to the government’s announcement on Monday. This is a concerning milestone in Japan’s growing older population issue.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released numbers showing that a large percentage of people in Japan are elderly, specifically those who are 65 years old or older. This group makes up 29. 1% of the population, which is the highest percentage compared to any other country.
The government shared the information to celebrate Respect for the Aged Day, a special day off for everyone in the country. The government is worried about the low number of babies being born and the decreasing number of people working, which could affect the money available for retirement benefits and medical care as more elderly people need these services.
The number of people in Japan has been decreasing steadily since the country’s economic boom in the 1980s. The fertility rate, which measures how many babies are born per woman, is 1. 3This number is much lower than the 2. 1 rate needed to keep the population stable without any new people coming in from other countries. For over ten years, more people have been dying than being born in Japan. This is becoming a big problem for the leaders of Japan, which has the third-largest economy in the world.
The country also has many people who live a long time, which has led to a growing number of older people.
To deal with a lack of workers and help boost the economy, the Japanese government has been urging more older people and mothers who stay at home to start working again in the last ten years.
To a certain degree, that communication has been successful: there are currently a large number of older workers in Japan, totaling 9. 12This number has increased for 19 years in a row. The internal affairs ministry said on Monday that workers who are 65 years old and above now represent more than 13% of all the people working in the country.
Japan has a lot of elderly people who are working compared to other countries.
However, even if we encourage older workers, it is not sufficient to address the problems caused by the demographic crisis. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned in January that Japan is in danger of losing its ability to sustain social functions.
He said that helping parents raise children was the government’s most important plan, and we need to fix the problem right away.
China, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan are having the same problem. They are finding it difficult to convince young people to have more children because the cost of living is going up and people are not happy with how things are.